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$300M cocaine bust… Teen on $1M bail
– warned not to miss even one court appearance
A 15-year-old boy, who was charged along with his parents following last week’s multi-million-dollar cocaine bust on the East Coast of Demerara has secured his pre-trial liberty.
The young man was granted bail yesterday in the sum of $1M by Magistrate Nyasha Hatmin-Williams at the Cove and John Magistrate’s Court, following a successful application by his attorney Vic Puran.
LEONARD BACCHUS
The youth, his father Leonard Bacchus and his mother Indranie Bacchus were remanded to prison on Monday, when they made their first court appearance before Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court.
The 15-year-old, who is scheduled to write the CSEC examinations next year, was released into the custody of his grandmother, who is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that he attends court every day the matter is being heard.
Magistrate Hatmin-Williams advised that she will only accept his absence if he is ill and hospitalised and warned that should he miss one court date, the bail will be escheated and he will be remanded to prison.
The Magistrate followed her colleague and maintained that the young man’s parents remain in custody.
She set October 6th for the commencement of the trial.
Leonard Bacchus, his wife Indranie and their son all pleaded not guilty to the two charges that were read to them on Monday.
The first charge states that on August 16, 2011 at Enmore, East Coast Demerara, they had in their possession 125 twelve-gauge cartridges and 152 .32 rounds of ammunition without being holders of firearm and ammunition licences at the time.
Secondly, they were charged with having in their possession 67 kilogrammes 296 grams of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
The charges stem from a police raid on a Haslington New Scheme house which netted a large quantity of the illegal drugs in several metal kunds, and a quantity of ammunition.
Yesterday, Defence Counsel Puran continued his argument, focusing on the facts surrounding the charges against his client.
He requested that the Magistrate record prosecutor Robert Clement’s statement that not all of the drugs were secured in the kunds found at the home of the defendants. The lawyer maintained that the only evidence that the police have is the fact that the Kunds were found in the Bacchus’s home. He disclosed that an investigating rank has given a sworn statement indicating that he saw the three defendants placing the cocaine into the Kunds.
The lawyer questioned which one of the two versions the police would use during the trial, adding that the prosecution does not have sufficient evidence for a conviction.
Puran also mentioned that when the drug was initially weighed by the police in his client’s presence, 125 kilograms was recorded and yet the trio was charged with being in possession of only 67 kilograms.
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