Oneil Williams feels violated, following an incident with a district constable on Friday, January 14 in Rock River, St Mary.

After the three-part ordeal, Port Maria Hospital issued Williams an X-ray requisition for a “skull or orbital” X-ray. For clinical data, the requisition form from the hospital states: “post altercation… blow to the region”.

Williams, 47, a father of one, told the Jamaica Observer that he had a dispute with a cousin on the night of January 14 in their community. Williams said his cousin pulled a knife at him, and in defence he picked up two stones off the ground.

He said it was not long after that the district constable, whom he named as Roberts, and who is in a relationship with his aunt, got involved, beating him badly on three separate occasions the same night.

Williams said the lawman came on the scene, totally disregarded the other party involved in the dispute, and started asking him if he had a gun, aggressively.

“Mi a tell him seh mi nuh do nothing and him start slam mi up ina the wall. Him start tell mi seh him nuh like mi because mi vote fi JLP [Jamaica Labour Party] and him a PNP [People’s National Party]. Him start chuck mi up ina the wall and start box mi up and thump mi up ina mi face. Mi a human being, suh mi start fight back,” he recalled.

Williams told the Sunday Observer that he eventually pushed the district constable away from him, which resulted in him falling to the ground.

“When him fall, some boys hang on pon him and pacify me and him. So I walk away. Me and mi next cousin walk off, but him [cousin] kinda fraid a him, suh him run leff mi. When mi look, the man trail mi and then grab mi up again. That a the second time him attack mi. Some people part wi again and tell mi fi guh home.”

Williams said he thought that was the end of it, but he said he was attacked a third time.

“I took a shortcut and reach in a friend yard, and him come again and start fight mi. So mi start make noise so people can hear seh something wrong. The man have mi a grung and a squeeze mi throat… mi breath lock off and mi deh a grung and a try fi ketch breath,” he said.

He told the Sunday Observer that the he thought he was going to die.

“Him lick mi ina mi head with him handcuff and mi stunted. Him turn mi ’round and seh, ‘Mi a guh mash up yuh face and go a prison.’ Him start beat mi ina mi face. Instantly, mi find seh blood a run dung ina mi eye and mi head just a spin and mi cyaa help miself. So mi feel when him handcuff mi and kick mi ina mi chest. That time mi scream out and him hang on pon mi foot and haul mi pon the grung.”

At that point, Williams said he heard someone shout: “A weh yah do man?”

He said the lawman answered: “Yuh nuh see seh a kill mi wah kill him and go a prison.”

Williams said people intervened and pulled the district constable off him at that point. Afterwards, the police were alerted and they took him to Annotto Bay Hospital.

He said about 5:00 am on Saturday, he was transported from the hospital to Richmond Police Station.

“Dem time deh mi foot dem tired and mi affi beg one of the officers for something to sit on. The policeman told me to give him a minute, and in less than a minute him carry a seat top come gimmie, and mi sit ina the cell until daylight,” he told the Sunday Observer.

He said he was released from the station around 11:00 am, and he walked for a while until he collapsed. It was a woman who saw him on the roadway and assisted him to a taxi that dropped him home.

“Even right now, mi feel sick. Mi feel sick ina mi body. Mi nuh feel like how mi did feel before. Mi feel a lousy spirit all over mi system. Mi spirit just feel dead,” he said.

The Sunday Observer tried unsuccessfully to get a comment from DC Roberts, who operates from the Richmond Police Station.

Head of the St Mary Police Division, Superintendent Bobette Morgan-Simpson told the Sunday Observer that Williams gave a statement to the police that he had no interest in going any further with the matter.

“He was directed to go to either INDECOM [the Independent Commission of Investigations] or IPROB [the Inspectorate and Professional Standards Oversight Bureau] or anyone of those facilities that is there for him. He already gave a statement, so there was nothing else that we can do from where we sit. He came to make a report on Monday, and then when we called the station, we were told he had already given a statement to say he has no interest in pursuing the matter,” Morgan-Simpson said.

However, Williams said he did not verbally express that.

“I tell them that when it [case] go to the court and go in front of the judge, if anything and wi wah done with it, wi done with it. But it cyaa done wid suh. That’s what I tell them. Mi couldn’t be a mad man fi seh mi a done with something and mi know seh mi coulda lose mi life. Mi couldn’t done with it like that. When I gave the statement, dem bring a book and mi sign it, but mi cyaa read, so mi nuh know wah mi sign,” he said, noting that he did not write a statement and is incapable of writing one.

When the Sunday Observer related that information to Morgan-Simpson, she said: “He was told that he can go to INDECOM, so all he has to do is go to INDECOM. He was properly informed as to the options that he has. So he can go to INDECOM or IPROB. He was told the places that he can go to where he can make a report.”

She added: “He already gave away the right where we are concerned based on the statement that he wrote. So he will have to try that other avenue which is either IPROB or INDECOM to hear his case.”

Queen’s Counsel Peter Champagnie told the Sunday Observer that Williams is still able to prosecute the matter.

“You don’t take that kind of statement when the person is in police custody. That is done when it goes to court or when he’s in a sterile environment,” he said.

“All he has to do is go to INDECOM and tell INDECOM that he cannot read or write, and was told to sign something. He just has to say that he didn’t know what he was signing, and he wants to prosecute it.”

Meanwhile, Williams, eager to have the X-ray done, isn’t able to do so at present because public health facilites are prioritising emergency cases only.