Five students of a Islamic school in Cunupia who were arrested over the weekend for terrorising residents of Munroe Road, have been granted a total of $750,000 bail. Abdul Aleem Mohammed and Zaheer Mohammed, both 18, and their three friends—ages 13, 16 and 17—who cannot be named as they are minors, were each granted $150,000 bail when they appeared before Magistrate Joan O’Connor in the Chaguanas Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
However, the teenagers’ relatives could not access bail for them by late yesterday afternoon and as such they were remanded to the Golden Grove State Prison and the Youth Training Centre (YTC), Arouca. As part of the conditions of their bail, O’Connor ordered them to report to police every Saturday and gave them each a 6.30 pm curfew. The five teens were slapped with charges for assault, common assault, possession of an imitation gun, unlawful possession of a walkie talkie and possession of dangerous weapons, knives and a taser.
The teens, who are students of the Darul Uloom Islamic School, Cunupia, were arrested on Sunday when Cunupia police responded to a report. During their brief court appearance yesterday, their lawyer Fareed Ali claimed the two teens suffered physical and verbal abuse while in police custody. Ali said the 17-year-old was forced to take a “push-up” position before he was ‘planassed’ with a cutlass. He claimed the teen collapsed and was kicked several times in the face but still refused to talk to police.
“He was placed in a push up position again for 15 minutes and told to not bend and again he refused to talk. It was then the officer stamped on the back of his head smashing his face against the terrazzo floor, causing him to suffer facial injuries and three broken teeth,” Ali said. O’Connor expressed shock over Ali’s claims but said she could do very little apart from making a note of the allegations. The teens will reappear in court on April 20.