Richard Cragan, charged with stealing four rings and a shoulder bag, was yesterday denied bail, shortly after he fired his lawyer in court and opted to represent himself.
Cragan, 30, of 66 Broad Street, Georgetown was charged before Magistrate Hazel Octave-Hamilton, at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. He was not required to plead to the indictable charge of simple larceny, which stated that on July 13, at Georgetown, he stole four gold rings and a shoulder bag, valuing $523,000 in total and belonging to Shakira Stewart.
No facts of what transpired on the day in question were presented to the court.
Cragan was initially represented by attorney Frank Fraser. But in the midst of a rebuttal to the prosecution during a bail application, Fraser was told by his client that he no longer wished to retain him as his counsel. Visibly unsatisfied with the representation that the lawyer was making on his behalf, Cragan indicated to the court that he wished to fire Fraser and opted to represent himself instead.
Police corporal Venetta Pindar had objected the Fraser’s bail application, citing Cragan’s antecedents. She argued that he had a pending simple larceny charge before the court and while on bail was alleged to have committed another offence. According to Pindar, it was the view of the prosecution that if granted bail there was a likelihood that the accused would commit similar offences and may not return to stand trial.
It was at this point that Fraser said the pending matter had nothing to do with the one presently before the court. The Magistrate then pointed out to the lawyer that he was interrupting the corporal while she was addressing the court and that she had given him a chance to speak uninterrupted when he was making his application. It was during this cross-talk that Cragan fired Fraser.
On his own behalf, Cragan said while he did indeed have a pending matter before the court, he had been attending regularly and as such could not be considered a flight risk.
The accused also argued that he had been arrested based only on mere hearsay. According to him, the police held no confrontation with himself and Stewart. Additionally, he said that Stewart indicated to him that she did not see the person who stole her items. He contended that it was “people who tell she to point me out.”
Magistrate Octave-Hamilton, however, decided to refuse bail, while noting that Cragan was indeed known to the court, where he had had several matters and a pending one. She pointed out that every time he had been admitted to bail, other allegations were brought against him.
The case was transferred to Court One for October 18.
