A surety today was given one month to come up with the bail sum of $7,500 after the accused’s sporadic attendance at court.
That situation came about when the case against four men and one woman, accused of entering the homes of Peggy Byer, Pamela Catlyn and Felix Newton, continued before the District ‘C’ Magistrates’ Court.
The accused are Rico Wazir Reid, 23, of Bonnetts, Brittons Hill; Brandon Damon Joseph, 22, of Beckwith Street; Charlene Alicia Evans, 32, of A4 Watermill Place, Bayville; Jabarry Stefan Lucas, 26, of Gully Field Avenue, Bayville; all in St Michael, and Ramone Henderson Sharom Griffith, 24, of Sweet Street, Lowthers Hill, Christ Church.
The accused have pleaded not guilty to entering the homes as trespassers and stealing items totalling $2,679.98 in value from the Byer residence on May 17, 2012, including watches and a wedding band. They are also jointly charged with making off with $1,633 in items, mainly foodstuff, from the Catlyn residence on the same date.
Further, the five are charged with stealing mostly jewellery from Felix Newton’s home also on May 17. His stolen property is valued at $3,430.
Reid faces an additional charge of robbing Addison Codrington of two cellular phones and other items valued $619.19 on April 28, 2012.
Originally, four of the accused were granted $7,500 bail each, had been placed on a 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. curfew and were to report to a police station twice weekly. Joseph was also banned from St Philip while Reid was granted $8,000 bail.
At their last court appearance, Lucas and Evans were remanded after they missed more than one court date, or showed up on the incorrect date for court. Joseph and Griffith are also on remand but in relation to matters in other jurisdictions.
With the accused in the dock and the sureties present, Acting Chief Magistrate Christopher Birch called on Evans’ surety to pay up.
“I had explained to you the consequences of her missing court, right? So in the words of that movie, show me the money. You signed for it, you said you were good for it, so show me the money.”
When the surety, who is related to Evans, replied that she did not have the cash, Birch’s response was: “So when can I get it? You see, there are consequences to all actions. You failed in your duty to make sure she attends court, so now you are responsible.”
After giving her some time “to think about it”, Birch eventually told the surety “Madam, my money and a new surety next month”.
However, the story did not end there. Birch wanted to know from accused, Joseph, if the message he had received from his (Joseph’s) surety last time, was correct. His surety had withdrawn on an earlier occasion after informing the court that Joseph said he was not attending court.
“You ain’t coming. Is that accurate?” Birch queried.
“My foot was hurt so I couldn’t get up he’e,” Joseph responded.
When Birch told Joseph that he could possibly cost his sister some money since she had signed as his surety and he seemed unconcerned about it, Joseph responded that he had already apologised to his sister.
“I fall off a motorcycle and my foot did hurt. The ball in you court and you could do what you want to do, boss man . . . I in jail already,” Joseph added.
At this point, co-accused Griffith nudged Joseph in his side with his elbow and mumbled, “doan say dah”, after which Joseph asked the court to give his sister “a chance”.
Griffith himself then rose to ask the court to give all of them a chance. Lucas, he said, had gotten “mixed up with the dates” and if the accused were to be granted bail, “we would do the right thing so that next time we won’t be in this situation.”
However, his plea fell on deaf ears and they were remanded until November 10 when the case comes up again. Reid remains on bail.