A father and son who were on remand for the past six nights at HMP Dodds were granted $5 000 bail today following an urgent application to the High Court by their attorneys.
Last Wednesday Keith and Nathan Weithers, of Alleyne’s Avenue, Bayland, St Michael, pleaded guilty before Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes to breaching a COVID-19 curfew directive by hosting a lime on February 7.
They were remanded to the St Philip facility for 28 days.
But lawyers Queen’s Counsel Andrew Pilgrim and Martie Garnes today applied to the court for bail and got a hearing before Madam Justice Wanda Blair.
The defence counsel argued, among other things, that there was no pre-sentencing report ordered justifying their clients’ remand. They had no previous convictions and were not known to the law court.
Pilgrim explained that in summary proceedings the position of a judicial officer “to think about what to do is open to great abuse”.
He also said that persons could be remanded for extended periods in such cases especially when they are unrepresented but legal counsel and are “unprepared and ill-equipped” to apply for bail which he described as “most unfortunate”.
The High Court granted the two bail on their own recognizance and they are scheduled to appear in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on March 16 when they should know their fate.
