A 16-year-old Sangre Grande student is among the five people jointly charged with kidnapping a 14-year-old student of North Oropouche granted a total $ 950,000 bail with surety by a Sangre Grande Magistrate yesterday.
The 16 -year-old had initially been reported kidnapped but on Thursday the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution instructed police investigator Cpl Randy Castillo, of the Sangre Grande CID, to lay charges against him.
The other accused are Deokumar Lutchman, 39, a construction worker, of North Oropouche; Bissessar Arjoon, 52, also a construction worker, of Brierley Street, Sangre Grande; Ashraf Hosein, 28, of GP Road, Barrackpore; and Nicholas Jagessar, 20, of Thai Road, Barrackpore.
The five, who are accused of kidnapping Brandon Sam, were not called upon to plead as the charges were laid indictably.
Jagesssar and Hosein are being represented by attorney Candace Price who asked for reasonable bail for her clients. She told the court Jagessar is gainfully employed, has two children ages 4 months and three years, has strong family ties and is not a flight risk. She also said Hosein has two children and is a self employed construction worker.
Attorney Elvin Cudjoe, who is representing Lutchman and Arjoon said his clients have relatively clean police records and are gainfully employed, while Denise Waldropt, who represented the teen, said he lives with his family and is not a flight risk.
Quintyne granted bail to the five accused with conditions, including that they stay 1000 ft from the victim, must not communicate at any time with him and desist from visiting his home and school.
The teen was granted $100,000 bail with surety, while Jagessar, Lutchman and Bissessar were each granted $200,000 bail with surety and Hosein $250,000 bail with surety.
The matter was adjourned to September 29.
RALPH BANWARI