The two men accused of shooting Kevin Singh on Waterloo Street on Saturday night, were yesterday arraigned on an attempted murder charge at the George-town Magistrates’ Court.
Keron Taylor and Joseph Barker were remanded to prison by Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton.
The men were not required to enter a plea to the indictable charge of attempting to murder Singh on August 18, at Waterloo Street, Georgetown.
When the matter was initially called yesterday morning, the charge was only read to Taylor, who was present at court. Barker was absent as he was still hospitalised at the time. He was, however, released from hospital yesterday afternoon and taken to court, where he was arraigned.
Attorney Peter Hugh, who represented the men, made applications for them to be admitted to reasonable bail.
Counsel said that Taylor, 20, resides at 83 Adelaide Street, Charlestown and had no previous convictions. He admitted that the welder and father of two has a pending matter before the Providence Magistrate’s Court, but noted that that matter is of a different nature to the one for which he is charged. He said too that his client had been in custody for in excess of 72 hours.
The lawyer opined that the only reason his client was charged is “because he is known to the police.”
The prosecution, however, objected to counsel’s bail application, noting the seriousness and prevalence of the offence for which Taylor was charged. It noted also that Singh is still hospitalised.
Hugh, however, argued that the prosecution should have provided the court with a more substantial report of Singh’s medical condition than to just merely say that “he is still hospitalised.”
The lawyer stressed, “the prosecution can’t just come and say that the VC [Virtual Complainant] is still hospitalised.” He declared, “for all you know, the VC has fully recovered and could be waiting for this matter to be called in order to leave the hospital.”
While the court agreed that the prosecution needed to present a more detailed report on Singh’s condition, it affirmed that it will not speculate as to Singh’s medical state. As a result, the magistrate inform-ed Taylor that because the complainant is still hospitalised, bail would be denied.
The matter will be called again on October 1 at Court One for reports and fixtures.
Reports are that Singh, 29, was shot on Saturday evening in what seemed to be an attempted hit. He was subsequently admitted as a patient of a private hospital, while Barker was shot by police and was being treated at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Police, in a press release, said that around 9:10 pm on Saturday, Singh was at Waterloo Street, Georgetown in the company of some other men.
Three males then approached them on motorcycles, which bore no number plates, and one of the men discharged several rounds at Singh, before they made their escape on the bikes.
Plain clothes ranks on a mobile patrol gave chase behind the bikes and during efforts to apprehend the perpetrators Barker was shot to his left thigh and hip at Fifth Street, Alberttown, police said.
A second suspect was also arrested and one of the motor cycles was impounded, while the third person managed to escape. An unlicensed .357 Magnum revolver with four spent shells has since been recovered by the police.
