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Judge postpones ruling on bail for Berbice businessman
JUSTICE Brassington Reynolds has deferred his ruling on whether to grant bail to Salim Bacchus, in a drug case, until after it is called, again, at Springlands Magistrate’s Court, Corentyne, on February 3. The judge postponed his decision Tuesday when attorney-at-law Mr. Ramesh Rajkumar made the application in the Berbice High Court.
In his petition, Bacchus, of Lot 138 Line Path ‘D’, Corriverton, Corentyne, said he is a businessman who owns 94 acres of rice land and heavy-duty equipment in the Crabwood Creek area, Corentyne.
According to the petitioner, he appeared, on November 4, 2011, before Magistrate Geeta Chandan-Edmond on a charge of trafficking in narcotics. He was charged on a separate case jacket and three other persons were jointly charged on another case jacket for exactly the same offence.
Bacchus said the co-defendants were alleged to have trafficked cocaine which was found in the bow of a boat.
Bacchus said, on November 3, 2011, he was arrested by ranks of the Berbice Anti- Smuggling Squad and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) at a sawmill in Crabwood Creek, resulting in four persons being accused of the crime.
He claimed that, in spite of violence perpetrated against him, investigating ranks were unable to extract a written confession from him and the Court heard testimony from the first and main prosecution witness, to the effect that the petitioner was arrested on the basis that he entered the boat at least 13 hours after the suspected cocaine had been placed there by unknown persons.
Bacchus indicated that there is no documentary or forensic evidence to connect him to the vessel or the suspected cocaine allegedly found there and, while he has been in custody since, the prosecution has been unable to complete its examination-in-chief of its first of several witnesses, although he has made four court appearances.
His individual trial and the joint trial of him and the others have been disrupted as a result of defects discovered in the formal complaint against the co-defendants and, because of that, the learned magistrate was constrained to release the three, Bacchus complained.
According to the petitioner, State Prosecutor Dionne Mc Almont has requested an adjournment to make submissions in reference to the defective complaint and the 49-year-old Bacchus, maintaining his innocence, said he suffered from a miscellany of medical complications that were aggravated by brutal beatings at the hands of the investigators, resulting in excruciating pain which is alleviated only by constant treatment and therapy at a hospital.
Particulars of the offence with which he is charged said, on November 3, 2011, at Line Path, Skeldon, Bacchus had 41.856 kilogrammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
Attorney-at-law Mr. Vic Puran appeared on behalf of Director of Public Prosecutions, Shalimar Ali-Hack.
JUSTICE Brassington Reynolds has deferred his ruling on whether to grant bail to Salim Bacchus, in a drug case, until after it is called, again, at Springlands Magistrate’s Court, Corentyne, on February 3. The judge postponed his decision Tuesday when attorney-at-law Mr. Ramesh Rajkumar made the application in the Berbice High Court.
In his petition, Bacchus, of Lot 138 Line Path ‘D’, Corriverton, Corentyne, said he is a businessman who owns 94 acres of rice land and heavy-duty equipment in the Crabwood Creek area, Corentyne.
According to the petitioner, he appeared, on November 4, 2011, before Magistrate Geeta Chandan-Edmond on a charge of trafficking in narcotics. He was charged on a separate case jacket and three other persons were jointly charged on another case jacket for exactly the same offence.
Bacchus said the co-defendants were alleged to have trafficked cocaine which was found in the bow of a boat.
Bacchus said, on November 3, 2011, he was arrested by ranks of the Berbice Anti- Smuggling Squad and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) at a sawmill in Crabwood Creek, resulting in four persons being accused of the crime.
He claimed that, in spite of violence perpetrated against him, investigating ranks were unable to extract a written confession from him and the Court heard testimony from the first and main prosecution witness, to the effect that the petitioner was arrested on the basis that he entered the boat at least 13 hours after the suspected cocaine had been placed there by unknown persons.
Bacchus indicated that there is no documentary or forensic evidence to connect him to the vessel or the suspected cocaine allegedly found there and, while he has been in custody since, the prosecution has been unable to complete its examination-in-chief of its first of several witnesses, although he has made four court appearances.
His individual trial and the joint trial of him and the others have been disrupted as a result of defects discovered in the formal complaint against the co-defendants and, because of that, the learned magistrate was constrained to release the three, Bacchus complained.
According to the petitioner, State Prosecutor Dionne Mc Almont has requested an adjournment to make submissions in reference to the defective complaint and the 49-year-old Bacchus, maintaining his innocence, said he suffered from a miscellany of medical complications that were aggravated by brutal beatings at the hands of the investigators, resulting in excruciating pain which is alleviated only by constant treatment and therapy at a hospital.
Particulars of the offence with which he is charged said, on November 3, 2011, at Line Path, Skeldon, Bacchus had 41.856 kilogrammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
Attorney-at-law Mr. Vic Puran appeared on behalf of Director of Public Prosecutions, Shalimar Ali-Hack.
