–refused bail
By Ayanna Blair
Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson yesterday remanded to prison three men, who allegedly abducted the daughter of Pike Street businessman Beharry ‘Natoo’ Dookie, when they appeared before her at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
The three men, who all wore blank expressions as they stood in the dock of the court, were informed that they were not required to plead to the indictable joint charge of unlawful confinement for ransom.
The facts of the case are that between August 28 and 29 at Stevedore Housing Scheme Squatting Area, East La Penitence, France Prince, a 23-year-old mechanic, of Lot 3 East La Penitence; Sivon Warner, 27, of Tucville Government Ground and 22-year-old Tyronne Solomon of 3440 Jacksonville Street, North Ruimveldt, unlawfully confined Rorhema Dookie with intent to hold her for ransom of $40 million.
Police Prosecutor Robert Tyndall requested that bail be refused for the trio on the grounds that the offence is non-bailable.
Meanwhile, attorneys-at-law Mark Waldron and Roger Yearwood, who represented Solomon, requested that the magistrate set an early date for the commencement of a preliminary inquiry.
The magistrate subsequently ordered that Solomon and the unrepresented Warner and Prince be remanded to prison and that they appear back in court on September 25.
Advice is to be sought from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Reports are that Dookie had just exited a school on Thomas Street, North Cummingsburg to meet her waiting boyfriend, Joel Oudkerk, when the kidnappers struck. They hit the young man twice in his head and grabbed Dookie.
The next day, she was pulled out of a shack in the Stevedore Squatting Area by a woman who thought she was the girlfriend of one of her kidnappers.
According to reports, at least three vanloads of policemen swooped on the Stevedore Squatting Area around 5.30 am on Tuesday and after searching two shacks on a dam, arrested a young man.
The shacks that were searched, according to reports, are inhabited by this suspect and at the time of his arrest he was found in the one where the 21-year-old Dookie was reportedly kept.
The police also said that a SIM card belonging to Dookie was found in one of the abodes raided on Wednesday.
