Justice Winston Patterson granted bail in the sum of $150,000 to a 19-year-old who is charged with being in possession of a .38 revolver with matching rounds.
The bail petition was made by Senior Counsel Marcel Crawford on behalf of Yogindra Sheem Singh, who was denied pre-trial liberty at the Magistrates’ Court.
According to the petition, on February 25, Singh joined a hire car on his way to New Amsterdam from Lancaster Village, Corentyne.
The car picked up passengers along the route and when it reached New Amsterdam there were two male passengers in the rear seats, while Singh was in the front passenger seat alongside driver Michael Butcher.
The motor car was subsequently stopped by a policeman, at which point a passenger fled. The policeman subsequently searched the car and a .38 Special revolver was seen in the pocket behind the driver’s seat. It was later learnt that the passenger who fled the vehicle is a serving member of the police force and the revolver was issued by the force.
The occupants of the car were arrested by the policeman and charged with being in possession of a firearm and ammunition without them having the relevant licences. Butcher was subsequently released on $75,000 bail at the lower court level.
In the petition for Singh’s release, his mother Savitree Devo Ramashwar related that she was reliably informed that the passengers in the rear seats had submitted a statement revealing that it was the policeman who had placed the revolver in the pocket behind the driver’s seat.
Ramashwar submitted that her son was merely a passenger in the car and further that he is not a flight risk and would attend his court hearings.