STRICKEN with prostate cancer and given between three and five years to live, businessman David Bernard wants the police to close what he described as a long chapter of harassment and allow him to live his remaining days on Earth peaceably.

Bernard, 51, listed 17 occasions on which, he said, the police have raided his Cross Roads, St Andrew, house, beaten him, discriminated against him, abused his family, and made life for him sheer hell.

What has led to all of that?

He was slapped with terrorism related charges after being accused of plotting to blow up an American Airlines aircraft in Florida, arising from a prank call made from his workplace to police in March 2011.

More than two years after, two of the charges were dropped by Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn on the grounds that there was no evidence to support the allegation.

According to Bernard, he was at work as operations manager at Dukunoo Deli, a restaurant at Norman Manley International Airport, when a customer entered the building appearing to be purchasing an item. She left, and about two-and-a-half hours later she returned to say that she had been overcharged. However, she could not produce a receipt and the company’s sales records did not support her claim, which led to boisterous behaviour by her, Bernard said.

“Somebody called the police from my office after that to say that this woman was involved in a plot to place a bomb on a plane and the police came to the establishment, detained eight persons, all of whom were later released, and then held onto me, although they had evidence which showed that at the time the call was made, I was not in the office,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“The police took me into custody, saying that I was the one who made the call. Senior Superintendent of Police Fitz Bailey told me that he was going to have me indicted by a US Grand Jury and I told him ‘good luck’,” Bernard alleged.

“They took me to the Central Police Station lock-up, I was blindfolded, put in a car and taken to the Darling Street station, I later found out, where I was stripped, handcuffed, had cold water poured on me, slapped, and burnt with candles, the police all the time saying that I was a terrorist associated with a group in Cross Roads.

“They asked me about al-Faisal… they said I was part of an organisation operating in Jamaica,” Bernard said.

The controversial Jamaican-born Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal was deported from Britain in 2007 for allegedly urging the killing of Americans, Hindus and Jews.

In 2010, he was deported from Kenya for allegedly violating the conditions of his tourist visa.

Bernard also claimed that “one of the policemen torturing me stuck his finger in my rectum, tried to push it down my throat and wiped it in my face. I started bleeding from the rectum almost immediately.

“They tied me down on a table and poured water on me, I felt like I was drowning,” he alleged.

“They said that they had information that I had worked for the US Embassy before and I told them yes, but I had signed a confidentiality clause with the Embassy which prevented me from making certain disclosures.

“They claim I was in a position to do irreparable harm to US citizens and I was taken back to a cell where I defecated and urinated on myself. I was placed in a cell with wet clothing from the torture and was spitting blood. No medical assistance was rendered to me, although one officer at the lock-up saw that I was not well and discreetly allowed some medication to be taken to me by relatives,” Bernard told the Sunday Observer.

He said that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 43 and also suffered from asthma and high blood pressure.

Later, the DPP charged him with terrorism, endangering an aircraft and public mischief. Although the first two charges were dropped, earlier this year he was informed by the DPP’s office that the public mischief charge would remain. The matter began in court earlier in the year.

During the March 2011 incident, the Norman Manley Airport was shut down for 72 hours, as investigators continued their probe.

US agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security visited Jamaica to start their own probe into the incident, but in the end found that there was no ideological, political or religious reason to charge Bernard for terrorism under the Terrorism Act, nor was there reason to sanction him under the Aircraft Endangerment Act, as the two charges did not apply in his case.

“The fact that I was beaten up and tortured compromised the case. I was also forced to sign a statement. The Americans found that the call was never recorded in the police official diary, nor was it tape-recorded,” Bernard said.

He said he has written to the governor general asking that Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn be removed from office for her department’s “behaviour” in the matter.

He also wants SSP Bailey retired “in the public interest”, as he claimed that the senior police officer was aware of the beating that he said was inflicted on him, among other acts of what he called “torture”, and Bailey did nothing to stop it.

Bailey, however, stoutly denied the accusations in a brief interview with the Sunday Observer yesterday.

Bernard, a father of five, said that he was even called homosexual by police personnel.

If convicted of terrorism charges, a person could serve 25 years to life in prison, while the aircraft endangerment charges would amount to 15 years to life.

Now Bernard wants a judicial review of the office of the DPP. But Llewellyn scoffed at such a call yesterday when she spoke with the Sunday Observer.

“His matter is before the court and we have to be careful in terms of what we say because his matter is ongoing,” she said.

Llewellyn said that the prosecution is ready to proceed with the case, but delays caused by the defence had stalled the matter.

The matter of public mischief, she said, would be marshalled by a deputy director of public prosecutions and an assistant director.

In the meantime, Bernard continued to lament the treatment which he said was being meted out to him and his family by Jamaicans who are aware of the challenges that he has faced.

“I have had, on three different occasions, faeces thrown in my face, my house has been firebombed. There was a fire aboard a JetBlue aircraft, and a fire at the Sangster International Airport and the police came and picked me up on suspicion of being associated with both events,” he said.

Bernard said that his prostate cancer level has moved from three to four, due mainly to the lack of treatment in the 12 weeks that he spent in lock-up.

“I got put out of a church because of the charges. The minister told me to take some time off and when the charges were dropped I could return. I told him it was okay and I have since joined another church.

“Pastor Barry Hall of the Eklesia Bible Fellowship took me into his organisation and the church makes it its business that I am looked after. They treat me like family. The whole thing has made me a stronger person. I used to be bitter, but I am no longer,” he said.

Claiming also that his medical records at Kingston Public Hospital and National Chest Hospital had gone missing after he was released, Bernard questioned how that could have happened when both institutions are far away from each other.

“I am ashamed that the US Embassy, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Amnesty International were the only ones defending the Constitution of Jamaica,” he said.

“The police have a name for people in the inner city — mongrels. I heard one of them come into a station and tell the other one that he locked up two mongrel today.

“The other day I was at the Half-Way-Tree Police Station and one policeman shouted ‘the mongrel them come’, when the truck transporting the prisoners arrived.

“The police know where to find me. They can come and kill me whenever they want to. I am not afraid of dying. I will go peacefully, I don’t wish to go angry and bitter,” he said.

“The DPP and the police are making a mockery of justice. I have lost total confidence in this country. I am sick and tired of politicians. There is only one politician who I respect and that is Everald Warmington because he speaks the truth. Before that, I admired Roger Clarke. I loved the ground he walked on and I cried when he died.”

Although he was cleared of terrorism-related charges by the DPP, Bernard said that he is still blocked from travelling on an aircraft, as the charges have not been removed from the files.

One good thing from his perspective, Bernard said, was that while he was a guest at the Central Police lock-up, he was not verbally or physically abused by any police personnel.

“Sergeant Mullings, Inspector Lawrence, Constable Davis, District Constable Ms Cherry and others treated me good and I thank God that there are people in the police force who are saving the force,” he said.

“I don’t hate the police, but every good thing that the police do, the bad ones come and erode it. (Assistant Commissioner of Police) Selvin Hay at the Anti-Corruption Branch is a credit to the JCF; Sergeant Lindsay at the JCF Inspectorate Branch is fearless and professional, so you still have a lot of good people in the force,” Bernard said. . I loved the ground he walked on and I cried when he died.”

Although he was cleared of terrorism-related charges by the DPP, Bernard said that he is still blocked from travelling on an aircraft, as the charges have not been removed from the files.

One good thing from his perspective, Bernard said, was that while he was a guest at the Central Police lock-up, he was not verbally or physically abused by any police personnel.

“Sergeant Mullings, Inspector Lawrence, Constable Davis, District Constable Ms Cherry and others treated me good and I thank God that there are people in the police force who are saving the force,” he said.

“I don’t hate the police, but every good thing that the police do, the bad ones come and erode it. (Assistant Commissioner of Police) Selvin Hay at the Anti-Corruption Branch is a credit to the JCF; Sergeant Lindsay at the JCF Inspectorate Branch is fearless and professional, so you still have a lot of good people in the force,” Bernard said.