The nine men accused of murdering senior counsel Dana Seetahal in 2014 were granted bail on Friday on the gang charges against them.
The matter was called virtually before Magistrate Kerrianne Byer at the Port of Spain Magistrates’ Court.
The matter was in relation to the gang charges that the nine accused, including Rajaee Ali, face.
However, this does not mean that the men will be automatically freed, as they are still awaiting trial for Seetahal’s murder.
They were committed to stand trial in July 2020, but their matters are yet to be called before the Port of Spain High Court.
However, given last week’s Court of Appeal ruling which upheld the High Court’s judgment that murder accused who have been remanded in custody can apply for bail, attorneys for the nine murder accused are expected to utilise this window to make an application for their clients.
Last Friday, magistrate Byer granted Rajaee Ali bail in the sum of $500,000.
Leston Gonzales, Gareth Wiseman and Kevin Parkinson were also granted bail in the sum of $500,000 each. Ricardo Stewart and Roget Boucher were granted bail in the sum of $350,000 each while Devaughn Cummings, Earn Richards and Hamid Ali were each granted bail of $300,000.
Among the conditions for their bail are on their release, they would have to surrender their passports and report daily to the nearest police station in the district they live.
Ali’s brother, Ishmael, was denied bail as the court was unsure of his updated criminal record.
He is expected to be brought before the court when the State has procured his background tracing, so that a determination can be made.
Background
On July 27, 2015, the accused made their first appearance before then-chief magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar in the Port of Spain Court for the capital offence as well as charges under the Anti-Gang Act.
Ayers-Caesar eventually recused herself from the enquiry after criminal defence attorney Criston J Williams, who was representing most of the men at the time, made an application on the ground of apparent bias.
The crux of his argument was that some of the same officers of the Criminal Gang and Investigations Unit who played a part in the investigation also formed part of Ayers-Caesar’s security detail.
It was following this that the enquiry was reassigned to Senior Magistrate Indrani Cedeno.
In 2016, Cedeno dismissed the gang charges following an administrative error on the part of the DPP’s office. Those charges were laid indictably as opposed to summarily.
The State appealed the decision and it was eventually overturned by the Appeal Court. The charges have since been re-laid.
It was recalled before magistrate Byer, who made the decision last Friday after the court was presented with a series of arguments from attorneys representing the accused.
Rajaee Ali’s attorney Roshan Tota-Maharaj argued last Friday that his client was initially prevented from making a bail application when he was charged back in 2015.
Tota-Maharaj noted that the court ought to consider Ali’s close ties to the community and his connection and service to the Al Islamia masjid, in Carapo, of which his father is the Imam and founder.
He noted that, notwithstanding the other pending matters before the courts, recent judgments allowed his client the right to apply for bail.
He further pointed out that last week’s Appeal Court ruling now allowed persons charged with murder to apply for bail, and noted that each matter ought to be considered by the court on their individual grounds.
Attorneys for the other men made similar arguments.
The other eight accused were represented by Shenice Edwards, Mario Merritt, Karunaa Bisramsingh, Kirby Joseph, Keresse Khan, and Kashief Gibson.
Seetahal was shot dead around 12.05 a.m., on May 4, 2014, along Hamilton Holder Street, Woodbrook.
At the time, she was returning to her One Woodbrook Place home after leaving the Ma Pau casino on Ariapita Avenue.
The ruling
Last week a three-judge panel comprising Chief Justice Ivor Archie and including Justices of Appeal Mira Dean-Armorer and Malcolm Holdip refused to extend a “bridging order” that was granted prior in a constitutional claim brought by former murder accused Akilli Charles.
This ruling paved the way for over 1,200 remand prisoners accused of murder to start applying to judicial officers for bail.
The State is expected to appeal the decision before the Privy Council in London, England, in an attempt to have it once again grant a stay/suspension.
However, until the matter is called, attorneys representing murder accused are free to approach the High Court and apply for bail for their clients.
The Appeal Court upheld the High Court ruling that Section 5 of the Bail Act of 1994 which precluded anyone charged with murder from applying for bail was unconstitutional. The judges held this was so because that section of law violated the doctrine of separation of powers since it took away a core judicial function from judges—that is, the consideration of bail for accused individuals.