'Police watched prisoners stab my boyfriend' … Woman claims man was attacked minutes after being locked up

A family from Denham Town in Kingston is demanding justice for their 24-year-old relative, Rasheim Brown, who they say was nearly killed on Monday by other inmates at a lock-up in Eastern St Andrew while the police watched.

"When we run go up to the hospital, we go see him inna the wheelchair with about 10 bandage inna him back. Him face buss up and swell up, him right eye swell up and blood shot, and him bend over, and a cry say him can't feel him back," Brown's girlfriend Shaunon Russell told THE STAR.

Brown, who was out on bail for aggravated robbery and assault in two separate incidents, was again detained on Monday for a recent shooting when he was attacked in the cell.

"Him say them put him in a cell with about eight man, and as him turn around the whole a them pounce up on him and start stab him while the police watch, and when him drop pon the ground, him hear a policeman say, 'unuh can done now'," Russell said, recounting what her boyfriend told her while at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH).

Russell added that her boyfriend said he fainted after the attack, and woke up on the station's bathroom floor, where he pretended as if he was dead to get attention. It was only then that he was taken to the KPH where he has since been admitted on the surgical ward.

Communication Officer at the police Corporate Communications Unit, Superintendent Stephanie Lindsay, confirmed that Brown was stabbed by inmates with a makeshift instrument shortly after being placed in the cell. However, she said she did not get any reports of the police watching the attack unfold.

She said investigations are ongoing.

Both the Independent Commission of Investigations and the Office of the Public Defender have launched a probe into the matter.

While the matter is being probed, the family members say they understand that one of Brown's lungs was punctured during the incident. He is wearing an oxygen mask and has been fitted with a tube to his side to remove battered blood. They are yet to receive a full report of his injuries.

Despite Brown being charged with multiple serious crimes, his family contends that he is innocent until proven guilty, and are appealing for better treatment of inmates.

"We need justice. If you're doing your job as an officer, do it to the best of your ability. You are here to serve and protect everyone," Brown's eldest sister, Lurline Kelly, said.