Detention officer ‘threw cup of near-boiling water over prisoner’

Abdul Aziz Alfadley suffered scalding injuries to his lower abdomen and genitals after the hot water was tipped over him through a hatch in his cell door at Barnsley Police Station, Jeremy Hill-Baker, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court.

He told the jury closed circuit TV footage showed custody detention officer Adrian Law returning from the kitchen with the plastic cup in his hand allegedly containing “hot water almost at boiling point” and deliberately threw it on to Mr Alfadley, who was wearing only boxer shorts.

Mr Hill-Baker said Alfadley screamed out and tried to alleviate his pain by splashing cold water on himself from a tap in his cell but when custody staff saw the amount of water on the floor they cut off the supply.

Later at 3.30am he was seen by a nurse and taken to hospital for treatment. The jury was shown pictures of his injuries which included reddening and blistering. Tests revealed the water in the kitchen boiler was 94.7 degrees.

Law, 45, of Cromwell Court, Goldthorpe, near Barnsley, denies causing Mr Alfadley grievous bodily harm with intent on May 30 last year.

Mr Hill-Baker said Mr Alfadley was taken to the police station in the early hours after he was arrested in the town centre on a public order offence.

He was described as being agitated and disruptive and could not be read his rights at the custody desk before he was taken to the cell, where he was subjected to a strip search.

He was eventually left in his shorts and was heard repeatedly banging on the cell door.

“What Mr Alfadley experienced was someone looking in, then a few moments later the hatch opened and a hand reached through and the contents of a white plastic cup being thrown on to his lower abdomen and genital area.”

Mr Hill-Baker said the type of injuries found were not consistent with self inflicted trauma.

When Law was interviewed about the incident he described Mr Alfadley as being “irate and agitated” when brought to the charge area.

When he began banging on the cell door he thought he might have used amphetamines. Such people could “burn themselves out” and need water.

As a result he kept checking on him but was met with verbal abuse and was not able to give him a blanket because of his continued behaviour.

He said he got the prisoner some cold water to drink but as he put his hand through the hatch the prisoner had flipped the cup and it spilt. He subsequently saw the prisoner rubbing himself and splashing water.

In a later prepared statement he said he knew nothing about how the complainant had got his injuries saying he was “professional, fair, considerate and caring at all times in accordance with my duties”.

Mr Alfadley, 26, who came to the UK from Kuwait in 2004, told the jury through an Arabic interpreter he was drunk that night but had not used drugs.

He did not think he should have been arrested and was telling the officers that. He felt his treatment when taken to the cell was “barbaric”.

He was lying on his back banging on the cell door when he saw somebody looking in at him. “After two, three or four minutes he brought a cup of water and he poured it on my body.”

He said the skin was burned. “I thought I had lost my sexuality. I was crying, crying, crying.”

The trial continues.