A 47-year-old police corporal will appear before a Siparia magistrate today charged with assaulting Guardian Media photographer Kristian De Silva and damaging De Silva’s Canon camera.
Billy Ramsundar was yesterday granted $80,000 bail by a Justice of the Peace and ordered to reappear in court today. Ramsundar was initially expected to make a court appearance before a Port-of-Spain magistrate but due to a mix up he will appear today in Siparia.
He was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and malicious damage of a Canon camera, valued at US$1600. The charges were laid by ASP Ruthven Hunte of the Police Complaints Division, after police sought advice from Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC, on Wednesday.
The charges stem from an alleged attack on De Silva on September 15 at Nazim Avenue, San Francique, Penal. De Silva was at the time attempting to get an interview with A&V Oil and Gas owner Nazim Baksh at the height of the fake oil scandal involving Petrotrin.