Four months after he died while clinging to allegations of vigilante justice against ranks of the Guyana Police Force, family members of Collin Murphy are voicing their frustration in their quest for justice.
The man’s sister, Samantha Murphy told the News Room on Thursday that while the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has requested an inquest into the incident, Police investigations have failed to take action.
While the DPP’s Chambers could not immediately verify when the file was returned to the Police, Samantha said she was only told on Monday last by a Sergeant that the file was returned since June.
“Since he died I’ve been running at the station asking about the file that went to DPP.
“Recently Sergeant Johnson told me the file returned … she said the DPP request an inquest to know who is telling the truth and who is telling lies,” Samantha related.
The distraught sister is not satisfied with the overall response she has received from the Police on proceeding with the DPP’s instructions.
“All this while I’ve been making contact and the file was there and she [Johnson] keep saying it hasn’t returned… I asked her which court for the inquest and she said she can’t tell me anything.
“So I’m not worried if we will have justice… I’m very worried that this matter would sweep under the carpet because it involves the Police,” Samantha said.
The woman told the News Room that the family “just want answers.”
“The Police is saying one thing, people in the areas saying a different thing, and also my brother was telling his side of the story and it didn’t match up to what the Police is saying.
“They deny us from getting to any of the ranks that worked the roadblock, they deny us from the taxi driver that hit my brother and only Sergeant Johnson has been dealing with the file. I ask her to reach with these people, she don’t want us to reach the people. We don’t even know who the person is that was involved in the accident with my brother.
“So it is complicated for us and it confuse us a lot,” Samantha added.
Murphy called ‘Day Day’, was a 22-year-old man who was employed at the Guyana Shore Base Inc (GYSBI) as a welder; he died at the Georgetown Public Hospital on March 31.
He was hospitalised at the institution for some six weeks following an accident outside the East La Penitence Police Station on the night of February 13, 2023.
Murphy’s spine was severely damaged; it rendered him cripple from his neck down. His death certificate gave the cause of death as a fractured spine and respiratory failure.
In a video seen by the News Room, the injured man told relatives from his hospital bed that following the accident, he was immediately accosted and beaten by two Police ranks.
The accident occurred as Murphy attempted to evade a party of Policemen who were conducting a roadblock at the time outside the East La Penitence Police Station. He was riding an unmarked motorcycle without a helmet on the wrong side of the road when he collided head-on with a car in oncoming traffic.
Murphy and his family maintained, however, that the injuries sustained from the accident were minor and not life-threatening enough to render him cripple. The Police have rejected those assertions and said they cooperated with the family in all ways reasonable.
