Death inside police station cell

Only an autopsy, scheduled for Monday at the Forensic Science Centre in St James, can reveal what killed Brent Hope as he sat in the cells at the police station. Yesterday, relatives claimed police brutality led to his death — a claim that was denied by police.

Newsday was told by police that Hope struck his head during a seizure he suffered after ingesting a quantity of cocaine inside the police station cell. Sources also claimed that a relative of Hope who was also in the cell, saw him swallow the cocaine.

The relative, who is out on bail, told Newsday yesterday, “I was helping him squeeze his belly to bring up the drugs. He told me he was feeling cold and then he started to catch fits and fell off the bunk, hitting the back of his head.”

The relative who begged not to be identified, added that when he realised he could not help Hope, he called out to the police for help.

However, the relative further claimed that a policeman told him, “leave him, let him dead.” Hope’s common-law wife Giselle Forte, 26, pushing the family’s claim of police brutality, told Newsday, “what I saw was a big wound and lots of blood on his head. A fall couldn’t have done that.”

An older sister of the deceased, who requested anonymity, told Newsday the police were covering up the truth about his death. “My brother was a rasta. His locks would have cushioned the blow. How could he have died from a fall? The police giving us all kinds of stories, but they are not telling the truth that they were the ones who killed him,” cried the female relative.

A police report stated that detectives of the San Fernando CID went to Hope’s house on Thursday following a robbery at a business place owned by the brother of First Lady Dr Jean Ramjohn-Richards.

That robbery occurred at about 4.30 pm and an hour later, police raided Hope’s home at Betty Street. Hope and a male relative were detained. Police said Hope was pronounced dead on arrival at San Fernando General Hospital at about 7 pm.

Yesterday, Hope’s brother Marlon went before a Princes Town magistrate charged jointly with another man for the murder of hamburger vendor Harry Chatoor.