One of the men charged with last Saturday’s robbery of the wife of Minister of Agriculture Saboto Caesar has agreed with the prosecution that they should be held in custody while police conduct further investigations.
“Well, I agree with the prosecutor. Leh the investigation go on more,” Elroy Rogers, a 26-year-old labourer of New Montrose told Senior Magistrate Rickie Burnett at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
His comment came even after his two co-accused told the court that they should be granted bail.
Rogers, along with Glenville Harry, 34, self employed, of Vermont and Rocuan Robinson, 29, a mechanic, of Campden Park, are charged that on Sept. 15, at Cedars, being armed with a gun, they robbed Reisha Twana Browne-Caesar ,of a quantity of items valued EC$10,350.50 and other documents.
The men appeared before the Family Court on Tuesday and the matter was adjourned and transferred to the Serious Offences Court on Wednesday.
Senior Prosecutor Adolphus Delplesche told the court that the arresting and investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Bristol, said she is looking at a four-month window before the commencement of a preliminary inquiry.
“Because these matters, your honour, are hinged to other investigations,” Delplesche said and told the court that the prosecution was maintaining its objection to bail.
“These investigations stretch very far, wide and deep. They touch and concern other investigations that the investigators are conducting, including capital offences,” Delplesche said.
“… there have been a spate of these offences across St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the investigators are looking at this investigation as the impetus that can lead them into other reports of this nature and of a more serious nature.
“And they are of the view that should these accused persons be granted bail at this juncture, they can hinder the progress of those investigations.”
He said the prosecution and the investigator know that they cannot keep the accused persons in custody forever.
Delplesche, however, asked the court for a few more days “to scratch the surface.
“Because fruits are there and fruits can be produced. So give us a few more days, your honour, to properly investigate these matters,” the prosecutor said and told the court that the state is aware of the presumption of innocence.
“But the state must also have an opportunity to put their house in order properly to protect the citizens of this blessed land.”
The magistrate then asked the prosecutor to address him on the definition of “few more days”.
Delplesche said, “Few is figurative in this sense.
“It will need more time than a few more days; a lot more,” he said, noting that the investigator had asked for four months.
He said that as it stands, the investigation would take another three months, with an additional month for preparation of the files.
Asked to respond to the prosecution’s submission, Harry, who did not have a lawyer, said he should be granted bail because he is innocent and has an 11-year-old son who is a Form 2 student.
He further said he has a bar that he operates in Vermont.
“I think as a citizen of St. Vincent I should be getting bail. They didn’t catch me with nothing. They catch the other guys with the things and want to put it on me.”
He said “people” told the police that he was there.
“I think I should get bail because I am innocent,” Harry maintained.
He suggested that as a condition of bail, the court could ask him to report to the police station everyday and order him to surrender his travel documents.
Meanwhile, Robinson, who also did not have a lawyer, said he would like to be granted bail because he had a daughter and a son.
And Rodney, who also did not have a lawyer, seemed to think that being denied bail is in his best interest.
He sided with the prosecution saying that the court should allow the investigation to go on.
The men were denied bail and a bail review was scheduled for Oct. 10. A preliminary inquiry is slated for Jan. 14, 2019.
They Don’t have money to pay lawyers but they can commit crimes.
this clown wana be badman throwing up crip gang signs LMFAO !! ……..What he know about that and why our ppl always what to perpetrate and destroy our own communities and small beautiful country with Yankee blight smfh ……dumb illiterate ass.
Innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
It looks like more incompetence and bias in SVG. There seems to be no evidence to detain a few of these men but alot of evidence against others. Nevertheless, they refuse to grant bail to the few that may be innocent and they need 4 months to gather evidence for just a preliminary hearing against those that are guilty. 4 months! It sounds like a tremendous waste of taxpayers money to me. Dr. Godwin Friday is right when he says that the police need the tools in order to solve these crimes. They were able to track the cell phone taken from the Minister’s wife so why are they unable to follow-up? The SVG police not only need to get off thier butts, get rid of all the political bias and favoritism in the force, they also need extensive training.
Many people have experienced the corruption in the SVG Police. They should not wonder why the people have less trust in the police than they do for some criminals. Most of the people in SVG realize that they are on thier own when someone has violated them. Even if the police do conduct an investigation, they are not competent of energetically fast enough to solve crimes. The few times that they are successful get big headlines in the press.
Now they doubled the licensing fees to own a firearm. A firearm is needed because crime is getting out of hand in SVG. It sometimes seems that elements in government work hand in glove with the criminals. Why doesn’t our Prime Minister see what is happening to SVG. Instead he spends his time attacking the opposition, as if they are to blame for his poor performance.
These people are not convicted as yet but their demeanor tell it all. They look like hard core criminals. Their br as in maybe fried from smoking Ganga.
What do “hard for criminals” look like? Because they are Black men, then they are “hard core criminals?” You are a racist, pure and simple, or a self-hating black man which is the same thing.
I do not think that is a racist statement. Just the fact these guys look rough. You would also see some white people looking rough in certain ways.
We need a Duterte to deal with these criminal elements. Ralph should surely the in the curtain.
Yes, give us a police state where you may be the next person pick up by the Black Squad.
Dear Police and Prosecution,
I ask for proper and thorough investigations in all of these matters. Though innocent until proven guilty, if following the deliberation of the court, these men are found guilty, we, the citizens of SVG will feel a bit more comfortable if at least nine convicted felons are now off the street.
Do not make the job of any defence counsel or defendant too easy. Dot all i’s and cross all t’s.
Be prudent. Be thorough!
Signed,
A former Defence Counsel
All of them are saying they have kids to take care of. But they robbed a lady with an infant in her hand. Iron of iron. Boy alyo need to be line up and shot
these clowns lol………their partial sentences along with a flogging and prison should be to have all criminals in a certain category clean up garbage and gutters from streets of Kingstown ………harsh times call for harsh measures , they must be humiliated . maybe then crime will slow up
Cruel and unusual punishment is unconstitutional.
in the great humane USA there are chain gangs for hard labor and community service to clean up garbage from the streets for offenders .
They need cat-o -nine
C-Ben David you seem to be a bleeding heart liberal who think that social engineering can reform these vagabonds. Unless the chickens have come home to roost and sit on your dinner table you will not understand how it feels to be a victim of crime. I hope and trust that one day these miscreant won’t skin you alive and drink your blood.
I don’t know how Dr. Gonsalves sleeps at night when looking at what is becoming of SVG.
The situation in the country is terrible after almost twenty years of his governance.
The man goes around the region running his pie hole while sitting on a busted sewer.
Neither he nor his family needs anything. He is the boss, and his pockets are full.
The Police and Judiciary are both fall woefully short.
Foreigners shoot and kill a local boat-taxi man in the Grenadines and get away with it.
Kilos of narcotics disappear from the Police station and no one is held accountable.
Police go around beating up people and get away with it.
Throwing students in prison for misdemeanors.
Selling our UN vote for two Japanese rubber dinghies.
Rampant corruption among Sports officials.
The Mafia’s playground in the Grenadines.
SVG is on an EU blacklist.
The MCMH is a mess.
People are being thrown in mental health institutions on a whim.
Just wait until President Maduro starts to demand his oil money back.
Just go to Grenada, Barbados or St. Lucia, you will think that you are on another world.
Nelson Mandela Highway?
Kingstown is falling apart.
The big island should be the nerve center of the nation but it is little more than a unfinished pit. Even the police court is falling down.
Take a hard look at the people (Start here. look at the pictures in this periodical ).
Doesn’t all this make you feel sick to your stomach?
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good read smh…. whats the answers , definitely not the NDP