Drug accused tells magistrate prison not meeting his medical needs

A man who has been on remand on drug charges at Dodds since October last year, has now been offered bail.

Michael Emmanuel Yarde, 46, of Drax Hall Jump, St George is accused along with three other men, including two Venezuelans, of having possession, possession with intent to supply and trafficking just over 1 000 pounds of cannabis on October 12, 2019, within the country’s exclusive economic zone.

The charges are indictable and, as such, the men could not enter any pleas before the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court.

When the case was called before Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes on Tuesday, Yarde told the court that he would like to make an application for bail, on the basis that the prison was “incapable” of taking care of his medical needs.

“There have been discrepancies with my diet, my medication and my dialysis,” Yarde claimed as he disclosed that he had been diagnosed with renal kidney failure.

He added that in recent months – December, January, and May – he had missed three dialysis treatments and had to be hospitalised for four weeks as a result.

“I had acute heart failure and bacteria in my blood,” said Yarde also said that he had been on dialysis for the past five years.

Station Sergeant Crishna Graham, in responding to the state’s position on bail, told Weekes that the prosecution would not renew its objections to bail for Yarde.

The Chief Magistrate, in considering the matter, offered the accused bail in the sum of $70 000 with two sureties.

As part of his bail release, Yarde will have to report to a police station three times a week – Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday – before 7 a.m.

He has also been placed on a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew daily.

Yarde will reappear in court on Thursday when he is expected to have suitable sureties to sign bail on his behalf.