Three policemen have been granted bail, totalling $300,000, on allegations of armed robbery, kidnapping, assault and drug possession. PC Ainsley Gay of the Southern Division Task Force and Special Reserve Policemen (SRP) Avinash Hajarie, 25, and Jeremy Tenia, 27, of the Princes Town Praedial Larceny Squad, appeared yesterday in the San Fernando Magistrate’s Court, which was packed with police who came to support them.
Gay, 29, was charged with armed robbery and the SRPs were jointly charged with two counts of misbehaviour in public office, stemming from allegations of kidnapping and assault. Prosecutor Cleyon Seedan told Senior Magistrate Lucina Cardinez-Ragoonanan the files have to be sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for a State attorney to be appointed. The charge against Gay, who has five years’ service, is that on October 15, armed with a gun, he robbed Rodney Tannis at Orchid Gardens, Pleasantville, of $2,800. It is further alleged that on the same day at the Marabella Police Station three grammes of marijuana and 0.1 gramme of cocaine were found in his possession. The charges were laid by Cpl David Simon of the Professional Standards Bureau.
The magistrate expressed concern about the manner in which a justice of the peace granted bail to Gay at the San Fernando Police Station on Sunday.
Noting bail was granted to him separately on each charge amounting to $100,000, as opposed to one bail to cover all charge, she said: “Let’s say he absconded on one charge. What are we going to do? I really have a problem when a JP proceeds to give bail in this manner. I am not saying it can’t be done but it has to be better.” Apart from that, she said, the property used to secure Gay’s bail had two owners. “I want to know how one person could take bail when two people own the property,” she said. The bailor was not in court. The magistrate granted defence attorney Cedric Neptune’s request for the matter to be adjourned today for those issues to be sorted out.
Hajaree, who has two years’ service, and Tenia, who has one year service, were jointly charged with two counts of misbehaviour in public office. The charges are that on September 14 at Debe they assaulted Basraj Toolsie, occasioning him actual bodily harm and falsely imprisoned him and took him away against his will. Those charges were laid by Cpl Joefield of the Professional Standards Bureau. They were each granted $100,000 bail to cover both charges by a justice of the peace at the station on Sunday. Hajaree was represented by attorneys El Farouk Hosein and Dane Halls and Tenia was represented by Neptune. The magistrate approved their bail and adjourned the case to February 24.