An 18-year-old Pinewood Gardens man was on Thursday charged with the murder of 76-year-old Viola Sands, who was killed the night Hurricane Sandy blew through New Providence.

Finlayson Street resident Omar Miller Jr. was charged with the grandmother’s death.

Police allege that on October 25, he and another person murdered the bed ridden newspaper vendor as she lay in bed in her Eneas Street home.

Miller was further charged with unlawful possession of an unlicenced firearm and ammunition.

Police alleged that they found him with a Lorcin nine millimeter pistol on November 7. They allege the serial number was erased and he had eight live rounds of nine millimeter ammunition.

Miller’s attorney Tamara Taylor said while in custody, her client was the subject of severe police brutality.

She told Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez that when Miller was arrested he was in good condition but added her client told her that four police officers beat him, placed a plastic bag over his head, put him in a body bag and choked him around his neck and private parts.

She said she was then advised by a doctor that he would need medical attention.

The accused’s lawyer also alleged that her client suffered a swollen right shoulder due to the alleged beating by police.

Taylor said it was around 4:00 p.m. Wednesday that she got word from Miller’s father, that his son was being abused by police.

Without saying why, she added that the accused’s father was also arrested and ended up in the same cell with his son who informed his father that he was beaten again, but this time by one officer.

When the father was released he called the lawyer who added that she went to the Central Detective Unit (CDU) to visit her client and saw him leaving the station with officers who told her they were en route to the hospital.

At the hospital she said her client was given prescription medication and a sling for his injured arm.

Miller wore that sling to court on Thursday.

He was not required to enter a plea to the murder and possession charges, was denied bail and remanded to prison until February 26 when a voluntary bill of indictment will be served.

Sands was the country’s 95th murder victim.