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Magistrate grants bail to robbery accused diagnosed with infection

by Barbados Today
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Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes on Tuesday found himself presented with “an interesting state of affairs” when a robbery accused, for whom a police prosecutor objected to bail, appeared in court after being diagnosed with a scabies infection.

Davidson Cleutus Joseph was released on bail, but the magistrate suggested that an electronic monitoring bracelet would have been ideal in the circumstances, as he could not take the risk of having Joseph check in at a police station as a condition of his bail.

Joseph is accused of committing three robberies. The first offence occurred on July 5 when the 40-year-old allegedly robbed Cherylann Clarke of a $450 cellular phone and a $60 purse containing $120 cash.

He is further alleged to have robbed Ainslie Hastie, on December 16, of a $1 000 cellular phone, a $350 handbag and $245 cash; and Clair Smart, on the same day, of a handbag, a driver’s licence, a charger, a packet of razors, a pack of popcorn, three lipsticks, $65 cash and a pair of sunglasses worth $754.50.

Joseph, who is represented by attorneys-at-law Michael Lashley QC and Sade Harris, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Police Constable Ralph Rollock objected to bail, despite the fact that the accused was given station bail due to a medical condition.

The prosecutor said his objections were also based on the seriousness of the charges, adding that two of the offences are alleged to have been committed against visitors to the island.

Rollock said: “The accused has antecedents that indicate that he has a propensity for these types of activities, a number of antecedents of a similar nature.”

In his application for bail, Lashley claimed that his client had a “good defence”. He also revealed that his client, who had been in police custody for several days, had to seek medical treatment three times and was also hospitalised.

“I told the investigators that he should not be interviewed or interrogated given the state that he was in, and [he] could hardly walk ….,” Lashley said as it was disclosed the accused had been diagnosed with scabies.

The attorney also raised concern about sending the accused to the St Philip penal facility at this time, given his medical condition, adding that “even with the pandemic we have to be extremely cautious”.

“The police made an order to have his sister come and bathe him,” Lashley added.

Chief Magistrate Weekes questioned whether Joseph had been cleared by doctors, to which the reply was ‘yes’. However, there was no medical documentation to confirm this.

“This is 2021. We have to do better than this. This is not 1960, this is nearly 2022. This is not novel to this era. This is an issue that occurs all around the Commonwealth,” said Weekes. “And what of all these people that he came into contact with? Anybody got checked? I hope the police got checked.”

Although noting that the charges against Joseph were “very, very serious matters” and “there is a certain level of consistency with the allegations”, the Chief Magistrate said this was “an exceptional case”.

“This is a most interesting state of affairs. I will exercise my discretion in his favour. I have to balance the interest of [all parties] but I am going to keep him on a very short leash. I also cannot expose him to the police in terms of reporting to a station,” he said.

“This is where the electronic bracelet would come in handy,” the magistrate added as he imposed a weekend curfew on Joseph.

The accused must be indoors 6 p.m. on Fridays until 6 a.m. on Mondays. He has also been prohibited from venturing to the south coast from Hastings to Maxwell as well as the west coast from Paynes Bay to Port Ferdinand.

The accused was granted $8 000 bail with one surety, and ordered to return before the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on January 25, 2022.

At that time, he must present the court with a medical clearance certificate.

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