A 29-year-old Special Reserve Police (SRP), accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl almost two dozen times in less than two years, was granted $350,000 bail yesterday. The SRP’s court appearance came less than three days after two of his co-workers from the Maraval Police Station were charged with 12 criminal charges, including bribery and grievous sexual assault.
Atiba Thomas, of Tomato Drive, Diego Martin, was not called upon to plead to 11 charges of grievous sexual assault and 11 charges for having sex with a minor who is under the age of 14, after he appeared before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar. Dressed in a brown shirt and black trousers, a stony-faced Thomas stood silently in the prisoner enclosure in Port-of-Spain Eighth Court as the charges were being read to him. Thomas spoke only to confirm his name, before deferring to his lawyer, Patrick Godson-Phillip, who applied for bail.
Godson-Phillip pointed to Thomas’ clean criminal record as he asked Ayers-Caesar for “reasonable” bail. She acceded to his request after the bail application was not opposed by police prosecutors in court. As part of the conditions of his bail, Thomas was ordered to surrender his passport and to report to police twice a week for the duration of his case. He is also barred from coming within one mile of the child’s school and home.
Because his home is located within the parameter set by Ayers-Caesar, she ordered him to move in with his uncle, who lives in La Horquetta, Arima. “You are prohibited from any form of communication with the victim, including via Whatsapp, Viber, Tango or any other form of social media. You are also prohibited from asking others to communicate with the victim,” the magistrate said. Thomas, who has served as an SRP for less than a year, is accused of assaulting the teenager at his home, which he shares with his common-law-wife and child.
The attacks allegedly began on a unknown date in 2012, while the child was 12, and continued until July 19 last year, when she eventually reported the abuse to her parents. A report was made to acting Cpl Quincy Marcelle of the West End Police Station and after several months of investigation Thomas was arrested and charged last week. He will reappear in court on April 13.
Still no bail for Maraval cops
Meanwhile, Thomas’ colleagues — Adrian Jack and Omari Gonsales — are yet to access their bail for 12 criminal charges, including bribery and grievous sexual assault. Although Jack, a police constable, and Gonsales, an SRP, were granted $500,000 and $300,000 bail respectively when they appeared in court last Friday, their relatives were unable to secure approval for their bail bonds that evening. The T&T Guardian understands their relatives made a second attempt yesterday but were again unsuccessful.
Jack and Gonsales will continue to be remanded at the Port-of-Spain State Prison until approval is granted by a clerk of the peace at the Port-of-Spain Magistrate’s Court. Both officers are jointly charged with kidnapping a woman, falsely imprisoning her and corruptly accepting $1,800 and $3,000 from her as a reward for not prosecuting her for marijuana possession.
Jack is facing four additional charges for perverting the course of justice by dishonestly attempting to manipulate the outcome of an investigation, for soliciting a bribe from the victim and for committing indecent and grievous sexual assault on her. All the charges arose out of an incident on February 25, which started with the woman’s arrest during a roadblock exercise at Saddle Road, Maraval. The sexual assaults allegedly took place later in a police car along North Coast Road, Maracas.