A fisherman was on Wednesday placed on $75,000 bail for allegedly breaking into a house and stealing a pressure cooker.
Moses Mootoo, of Lot 7 Riverview, Ruimveldt was charged with break and enter and larceny.
Mootoo was not required to plead to the indictable charge, which was based on the allegation that on July 9, he broke and entered the dwelling house of Ganesh Kissoon and stole a pressure cooker valued $6,500.
The unrepresented Mootoo requested reasonable bail.
The prosecution, however, objected to the defendant’s bail application, arguing that while the accused had provided the court with a lot number for his residence, he only told the police upon his arrest that he lived at Riverview.
Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton, however, later reprimanded the prosecution, stating that the police had failed to do a proper job by not asking the defendant for his full address. The magistrate pointed out also that she was only told by the accused of his lot number after she requested it.
She further asserted that the police could have used their initiative by enquiring from the defendant his full address. She urged the prosecution to take into consideration that the police encounter different defendants on a daily basis and would have to seek out their information thoroughly from them.
The magistrate further reminded the prosecution that the offence for which the accused is charged was a bailable one.
Prosecutor Alexis David-Hosannah then submitted that the prosecution was objecting to bail because Mootoo was allegedly found with the stolen item.
The magistrate then reminded the prosecution that the accused is to be presumed innocent until proved otherwise and all the issues will be ventilated at the trial.
The prosecution then raised no objection to the defendant being granted bail but requested that it be set at a substantial sum.
Mootoo’s bail was subsequently granted and the case was adjourned until July 23, when it would be called for report and fixture.
