The Penal woman accused of harbouring escaped prisoner Vicky Boodram was yesterday granted $100,000 bail in the Siparia Magistates Court.
Roxanne Cudjoe, 32, was not brought from prison for the hearing.
She first appeared before a Port-of-Spain magistrate on Tuesday but was remanded in custody for tracing to determine if she had a criminal record.
It is alleged that she was harbouring Boodram, also called Victoria Samlalsingh, at her Lachoos Road, Penal, home on November 30 with intent to impede her arrest.
Ag Insp Sheldon Ablacksingh told Siparia First Court Magistrate Margaret Alert that Cudjoe was not in court because there was no female police officer in the escort detail. They had not been told that a female prisoner was to be taken to court, he said.
Cudjoe’s attorney Richard Clarke-Wills, who made a bail application in her absence, said although there were three matters listed as pending on her criminal record, those had already been decided in her favour.
The cases were for littering, using obscene language and resisting arrest in 2011 and 2013.
Clarke-Wills told the court Cudjoe is the single parent of an eight-year-old son and she works at a lotto booth and is also a hairdresser. He said she has been in custody since being charged by Ag Cpl Joefield last Thursday.
The prosecutor in the case, who had no objection to bail, said the offence carries a maximum penalty of a $100,000 fine and five years in prison.
Cudjoe was granted the bail pending clerk of the peace approval but the magistrate denied a request for a cash bail alternative.
The case was adjourned to today for disclosure.