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A High Court judge ruled that prison officers used excessive force against an inmate after a dispute at the Golden Grove Prison, awarding damages for injuries that included a fractured tibia and fibula.

Justice Carol Gobin found that although Kurt Christopher Bridgelal initiated an assault by throwing the contents of a slop pail, the response by a prison officer. who retaliated by throwing multiple pails containing urine and faeces, used excessive and unreasonable force.

After entering judgment for Bridgelal, Justice Gobin ordered the State to pay general damages of $115,000 and exemplary damages of $35,000. The court also awarded interest from July 4 to December 18.