Following a ruling by the Trinidad Court of Appeal a month earlier, murder-accused Joel King of the twin-Island Republic became the first person on March 25th, to be granted bail on a capital offence in a hundred years.
Like other jurisdictions in the Region, being granted bail for murder is unprecedented, which was what made King’s motion to be granted pre-trial liberty a unique one.
Naturally, the ruling attracted its fair share of attention—some—criticisms, as had been the case when sister CARICOM country Guyana, also saw the appellate court for the first time since, granting bail to a murder-accused back in 2008.
