(Trinidad Guardian) Three men from east Port-of-Spain have been denied bail after appearing in court on gang charges.
Ancil Villafana, Kevon Franklyn, and Keedel Montrose, all of Beetham Gardens, appeared before Chief Magistrate Maria Busby-Earle-Caddle in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court, yesterday morning.
Villafana and Franklyn were both charged with being the leaders of an unnamed gang, while all three were charged with providing support to a gang in the commission of gang-related activity.
The offences are alleged to have taken place between September 27, last year, and April 10.
The trio was not called upon to plead to the charges, which were laid indictably.
During the hearing, police prosecutors objected to bail under the Bail Amendment Act 2019, as they claimed that firearms were used in the commission of the offences.
Busby-Earle-Caddle questioned whether they had evidence to buttress their claim.
“Why were they not charged for those offences?” Busby-Earle-Caddle said.
Busby-Earle-Caddle then suggested that they may fall under a section of the legislation which denies bail to persons charged with serious and violent offences including under the Anti-Gang Act, in the event that they have previous or pending cases of a similar nature.
However, Busby-Earle-Caddle could not make a determination on the issue as police informed the court that the T&T Police Service (TTPS) criminal record database system was not operational, since last Thursday.
Busby-Earle-Caddle gave the police 48 hours in which to obtain their records and adjourned the case to Thursday morning.
