Lawyer says husband pressured wife into enterprise
THE couple charged after the cocaine in kunds (Hindu religious urn) bust at Enmore appeared in the Vigilance Court on East Coast of Demerara yesterday. With Leonard Bacchus and his wife, Indranie Bacchus, before Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus was also their 15-year-old son, all charged with trafficking in narcotics.
The charge against the trio, including the juvenile, to which they pleaded not guilty, said on August 16, they had 67 kilogrammes 296 grammes of cocaine in their possession for the purpose.
Leonard Bacchus faced separate charges which stated that, the same day, he was in possession of one hundred and twenty-five 12-gauge shotgun cartridges and one hundred and fifty-five .32 bullets.
He pleaded not guilty to those, as well.
Defence Counsel Vic Puran informed the court that Leonard Bacchus has already given a statement to police, confessing that he pressured his wife to be a part of the enterprise, by burning her hand with an iron rod.
“The husband has already given a statement saying his wife’s participation in the enterprise was entirely as a result of duress on his part,” the lawyer stated.
Puran questioned how a juvenile can be responsible for something found in his parents’ home and added that, even if the lad is convicted, imprisonment would not be mandatory and, so, the court has reason to grant bail at the pre-trial stage.
However, the police prosecutor, Sergeant Clements objected to the grant, maintaining that none of the lawyer’s arguments provided special reasons for granting his application.
The prosecutor said the special reasons must be related to the offence.
The husband and wife were remanded to prison overnight and their son was ordered remanded into police custody.
The cases will be called, again, today at Cove and John Court, also on East Coast Demerara.