Family heartbroken as man dies two days after arrest
Published:Tuesday | June 4, 2024 | 12:11 AMOlivia Brown/Gleaner Writer
A Clarendon family is seeking answers after their relative died while in police custody at the Chapelton Police Station on the weekend.
The family is alleging that 33-year-old Rekema Bravo, a farmer of Iron Gate in Chapelton who had a history of mental illness, should not have been detained in a regular cell and should have been specially monitored by cops after his detention on Saturday.
Reports are that about 4:50 a.m. on Monday, the lawmen were alerted to commotion in the lockup, where they found Bravo on the floor of his cell in a pool of blood with a laceration to the back.
He was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The Gleaner understands that Bravo was detained after allegedly attacking his grandmother with a knife and destroying her property.
He was reportedly charged with assault at common law and malicious destruction of property.
Dudlely Williams, Bravo’s uncle, broke down on Monday as he spoke about the tragedy that befell his family.
Williams acknowledged his nephew’s struggles with mental illness, which he believed contributed to his detention.
“Mi feel it bad ... . Mi feel it to mi heart,” he said.
Williams argued that although Bravo had a history of physically attacking his grandmother, considering his struggles with mental illness, it was misguided to take him into police custody. He believes that a more compassionate and supportive approach was warranted.
He added: “Mi deh Kingston an’ mi hear seh di police dem come and lock him up to how him a [behave]. Him chop down everything and so an’ so. Him misbehave pan [him grandmother], yuh know. Go in deh with knife pan har and lick har and some likkle tings, so di police dem come and see wah gwaan and carry him go lock him up.”
The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) and the Jamaica Constabulary Force are probing the death.
INDECOM said it will be probing whether there was any negligence in the actions of the police officers which resulted in Bravo’s death.
Since the start of this year, INDECOM commenced investigations into nine deaths in custody incidents, of which three occurred at a police station and six within the precincts of a correctional institution.
It also launched a probe into reports of a fatal police shooting in the Corporate Area yesterday evening.
According to a 2019 report, 313 mentally ill people were locked away in correctional institutions across Jamaica.
A 2014 study found that approximately 18 per cent of the Jamaican prison population had a mental illness which is four times greater than the rate found in England and Wales.