Mother of teen killed by police in 2016 takes legal action

ONE month after he complained of being harassed by police and allegedly slapped with numerous false charges, a Tunapuna teenager was shot and killed by an officer of the Northern Division Task Force.

Now, his mother has signaled her intention to take the State to court. In a pre-action protocol letter sent last week, attorneys Lee Merry, David Francis and Ajesh Sumessar are claiming the State is vicariously liable for the actions of the police officer who shot and killed 15-year-old Josiah Ramsahai on November 18, 2016.The teenager was shot 17 times with the police officer’s Galil automatic rifle, according to the letter.

The attorneys for Ramsahai’s mother, Jeanette, also say the police officer deliberately killed the teenager and at the time there was no threat on the officer’s life, yet he used lethal force.

“There was no legal justification for the use of lethal force,” the letter maintained. Ramsahai’s mother is seeking damages for the death of her son, loss of expectation of life, loss of earnings, funeral and related expenses and pain and suffering.

According to the letter, in 2016, the police officers of the division allegedly embarked on a campaign to harass and threaten Ramsahai and his family because of a dispute between them and the policeman’s sister. In that year, on July 4, a car Josiah was in was shot at by police; on July 13, he was arrested and told he would get a shooting case; on October 5, the police officer named in the letter allegedly sneaked up on him and some friends at his Dookie Lane, Tunapuna, home and fired shots in their direction.Ramsahai made a report to the Police Complaints Authority the next day. In her complaint, she asked, “What to do? Wait to bury my son? Help!” she pleaded.

One month later, her son was killed by the same police officer who they alleged was harassing them.

According to the letter, on the day he was shot Josiah went to the shop and was walking back home when they saw the officer. He was armed with a Galil and started shooting in their direction. Josiah’s aunt said she saw the police move his body over a fence and to the centre of an empty lot. Other officers were kicking Josiah while poking him with the gun.

She said when they were taking his body to the hospital, she begged to see him but was made a fool of by them slowing down the vehicle, then speeding up when she got close.

The attorneys have asked for the station diary extract for the Northern Division Task Force for the day he was killed, the report of the investigating officer, the police’s file on Ramsahai’s shooting death and a letter from the PCA dated March 7, 2019.