Police have arrested and charged a Georgetown man who is alleged to have helped to transport the dismembered body of homicide victim Sheldon Welch, 27, to Morne Garu Mountain, last Thursday, March 2.
Lisroy Bacchus, a 33-year-old carpenter, of Chili, Georgetown, appeared before Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne, on Wednesday, becoming the third person to be charged in connection with the death.
He was read a charge that on March 2, at Georgetown, knowing or believing that Javid Dasilva and a 15-year-old youth, both of Georgetown, having committed the offence of murder or some other relevant offence on Sheldon Welch, of Georgetown, did without lawful authority or reasonable excuse assist the said DaSilva and the teen by transporting the body of Sheldon Welch to Morne Garu Mountain and burying him with intent to impede the apprehension or prosecution of the said Dasilva and the teen.
The teen cannot be named by the media because of his age.
Bacchus, who was represented by counsel Grant Connell, was not required to plead to the indictable charge.
Prosecutor Station Sergeant of Police Renrick Cato did not object to bail and asked the court to ask for sufficient surety, surrender of travel documents, reporting conditions, and stop notices.
Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne initially set bail at EC$30,000.
However, Connell said he had no intention of wasting the court’s time and asked for paper committal.
He said if the prosecution can serve the documents by the end of the week he would be ready for a paper committal next week.
Connell said that in light of this he was asking that the bail sum be reduced.
Cato said the file was not ready, adding that he could not say whether, in light of this, he could have paper committal next week.
He further noted that since two other people are charged in relation to the same matter and based on the same facts and circumstances, if the Serious Offences Court presides over a paper committal in Bacchus’ matter, the preliminary inquiry into the murder charge would have to move to another court.
The prosecutor, however, said that he did not have an issue with paper committal when the file is complete.
He pointed to the court that the maximum sentence for Bacchus’ alleged crime is 10 years in prisons.
Connell said that offences that attract a maximum sentence of 10 years usually attract bail of EC$10,000.
The chief magistrate set bail at EC$20,000 and ordered Bacchus to report to the Georgetown Police Station on Mondays and Thursdays between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
He is to surrender his travel documents and obtain the permission of the court to leave the country.
The court also ordered that stop notices be placed at ports of entry and exit.
The chief magistrate said she had seen the report of Dr. Child, the pathologist, adding that to go through a preliminary inquiry with that would be “quite graphic”.
She said that knowing the competency of Detective Corporal 339 Chevron Laborde, who is leading the investigation, she would set March 27 for paper committal.
On Monday, Dasilva, 22, Welch’s brother, along with the teen, appeared before the Serious Offences Court where they were read a charge that they murdered Welch, on March 2, at Georgetown.
Police recovered Welch’s body in the Morne Garu Mountain Friday night.
The accused murderers have been remanded in custody until April 18, the date of the preliminary inquiry.
Well-placed sources have told iWitness News that the body was cut into nine pieces.
Corporal 339 do your job well. You have my number as a detective myself. Be skillful, focused, and be specific.