Almost a month after his three-year-old son drowned during a family outing in Chaguaramas, a 35-year-old man from East Port-of-Spain appeared in court charged with manslaughter.
Atiba Gorkin, of George Street, Port-of-Spain, was granted $75,000 bail when he appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Maria Busby-Earle-Caddle in the Port-of-Spain Magistrate’s Court on the charge of unlawfully killing his son Josiah “Messi” Gorkin on July 16.
Dressed in a grey T-Shirt and a pair of jeans, which he had to hold at the waist as the button had burst on his way to court, Gorkin stood silently in the prisoner’s enclosure with his head bowed for the duration of the hearing. Police prosecutor Insp Winston Dillon objected to bail as he called on Busby-Earle-Caddle to consider the seriousness of the offence and the prisoner’s criminal record, which included two convictions for marijuana possession.
Dillon also alleged that Gorkin should be remanded as he may attempt to intimidate witnesses at his eventual trial. The allegation sparked an outburst from Gorkin’s relatives and friends who were seated at the back of the court. “If you don’t know how to behave in this court, then you can not attend,” Busby-Earle-Caddle said as she ordered the group of angry relatives to maintain their composure. However, their protests continued outside the courtroom after Gorkin’s case was adjourned.
“What they trying to say that he will threaten us not to testify. That is madness,” one female relative said as she was restrained by another relative.
Gorkin’s lawyer Samuel Thomas objected to the prosecutor’så allegations as he claimed that there was no evidence that he (Gorkin)å would tamper with witnesses.
“My client is still in a state of bereavement. He is still grieving and is in shock over his son’s death,” Thomas said. Thomas said Gorkin, an employee of the Port-of-Spain City Corporation, was the sole breadwinner in his family and had two more children, ages 12 and seven.
“He is seeking counselling for the tragic predicament he has found himself in. He is experiencing double jeopardy of having lost his son and now having to face this charge,” Thomas said.
Josiah went missing during a family lime at Williams Bay, in Chaguaramas on July 16.
His family initially believed that he had been kidnapped but the child’s body was found floating off the coast of Williams Bay, Chaguaramas, the following day.
Gorkin was questioned by police after the incident and was arrested last week as police completed their investigation. Gorkin made headlines during the State of Emergency in 2011 when he was among a group of two dozen residents of his community who were charged with being gang members under the controversial Anti-Gang Act. Gorkin and his neighbours were eventually freed after Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard discontinued the charges against them.
Gorkin will reappear in court on September 11.