Judge awards $.7m to widow of man beaten to death in jail

QUOTING a Newsday editorial of November 4, which called for a thorough investigation and review of prison procedures, a High Court judge on Tuesday awarded compensation to the widow of a prisoner who brutally beaten to death at the hands of prison officers.

Justice Nadia Kangaloo, in an oral decision at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain, said the widow of Aimard Placid Lima had proven that her husband had been beaten by prison guards on June 9, 2013 at the remand yard in Arouca.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” Kangaloo said as she found that Cintra Seerattan, who sued the State, proved on a balance of probabilities that the prison authorities breached their duty of care to Lima.

In awarding her a total of $770,875 in damages, Kangaloo said the compensation awarded by the court should only be viewed as a measure of comfort for those left behind.

Seerattan was represented by attorney Abdel Mohammed.

Kangaloo said, from the evidence of the multiple injuries Lima received from a circular blunt object which led to his death the next day, the use of the object suggested he was severely beaten by prison guards.

She also named two of the guards and said despite several requests, Lima was not immediately taken for medical treatment at hospital or the prison infirmary. He was eventually taken to the Arima District Hospital a day later after he was found unconscious in his cell. Lima was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

Kangaloo also said regardless of who inflicted the brutal beating, the prison authorities fell well below their duty of care to Lima, as she found the State to be negligent. She also said, based on the evidence and on a balance of probabilities, Lima would have suffered severe pain and suffering, judging by his brutal injuries, which included broken ribs on his left side and damage to his rectum and colon.

“Going forward, the court hopes to never have to deal with a matter such as this again,” the judge said.

Lima, 47, of Lily Street, Siparia, was sent to remand yard on June 7, 2013, on an outstanding warrant for a 25-year-old rape case. After his death, prison officers claimed prisoners had beaten him to death. However, one of the inmates in the cell next to Lima’s, former Express reporter Akile Simon, testified to hearing one prison guard tell another that the beating he was putting on a prisoner was enough.

He also testified to seeing Lima being brought by guards, unable to walk. His eyes were swollen and he was clutching his abdomen. He said Lima pleaded for medical treatment but was ignored and referred to as a troublemaker.

Simon testified that Lima was put in the next cell and other prisoners called out to the prison officers to take him to the hospital. They, too, were ignored. Simon said several hours into the night, Lima’s cries went silent, and the inmate sharing the cell with him was not moving, and it was at that point he realised he might have died.

He said the next morning, a prison officer entered the cell and told others Lima had died and he was put on a stretcher and taken to hospital. Simon also said investigators never questioned him about Lima’s death, although he remained remanded till 2016.

Lima’s widow said in her lawsuit that her husband’s death took a large emotional toll on the family and his brutal death affected them mentally.

She also said she considered her husband’s death a murder . She was never told of any investigations into his death or whether anyone would be held accountable for it.

Two autopsies were done on Lima’s body. One was by Dr Hughvon des Vignes, who found that Lima died due to multiple blunt traumatic injuries, and the other by Prof Hubert Daisley, who was hired by the family.

Daisley found Lima died of multiple fractured ribs, blunt trauma to the skull and other areas of the body, that the nature of the trauma was caused by a circular blunt elongated object that was the main object used to create injuries, pressure was applied to the neck, which caused the fracture of the larynx, and there were injuries to his rectum and colon.