Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth finds it unacceptable that the suspects were tortured by the police, while the police are doing a great job. He was speaking on Tuesday evening, May 31, at the Eid ul-Fitr celebrations organized by the Vacoas-Phoenix town hall. The Prime Minister maintained that he had just become aware of these videos. The police commissioner has, according to him, initiated an investigation, which will be done in transparency.
Pravind Jugnauth also conceded that there have been arrests. The police, he said, must maintain order and peace by respecting the law. They cannot act against the law. He did not mince words, asking why nothing has been done. The Prime Minister also maintained that those who will have to answer to justice will have to do so.
Three police officers give their versions this Wednesday
Arrested in the late afternoon of Monday, May 30, three police officers of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of Terre-Rouge, namely Inspector Deroochoonee, Sergeant Reedoye and Constable Gokhool, were brought before the court of Pamplemousses this Tuesday morning, May 31. They were charged with a provisional accusation of ‘torture by public official’. They were then taken to a police cell until Tuesday, June 7, the date of their next appearance. The three suspects are expected to give their statements to investigators from the Central Criminal Investigation Department (CCID) on Wednesday, June 1, in the presence of their lawyers.
Jean Christopher Jessy Pierre Louis, 31 years old, gave his deposition to the CCID during the day of Monday, May 30, to denounce this team of police officers from the Terre-Rouge CID, which was headed in 2019 by Inspector Deroochoonee, as the one who had tortured him to extract a confession in a theft case. Inspector Deroochoonee, who was already suspended from duty, following an arrest by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in a bribe case in August 2021, was arrested again by the ICAC. Sergeant Reedoye and Constable Gokhool were also arrested for the same investigation. Procedures have been initiated to have these two suspects suspended from duty.
Christopher Pierre Louis was once again at the Central Barracks on Tuesday morning, May 31. After continuing his statement, he was taken to Goodlands, the village where he lives, where he had been arrested by the men of Inspector Deroochoonee of the Terre-Rouge CID in the vicinity of a garage to be taken to the CID office in Terre-Rouge. During this reenactment exercise, Christopher Pierre Louis indicated the different places where he had been with these police officers before being taken to the CID office to be tortured. This resident of Goodlands was not able to identify the exact locations in this office, since the arrangements were modified with the renovation.
Also this Tuesday, May 31, the mother of David Jolicoeur, a suspect who had been arrested on December 27, 2018 for a murder case, came to the CCID offices to give a deposition. This Baie du Tombeau resident told investigators that she identified her son, who was being tortured at the hands of Terre-Rouge CID police officers on a video, which has been circulating on social networks since Saturday, May 28. David Jolicoeur, who was 19 years old in 2018, had confessed to the murder of Issa Ramjaun, a resident of Terre-Rouge who was 86 years old during a burglary on December 25, 2018. The octogenarian had been killed at his workplace in Riche-Terre where he worked as a security guard.
