The Vishwanauth brothers will be spending this Christmas in prison having been refused bail when they appeared in court yesterday charged over an altercation that ended with a third man beaten unconscious.
Michael and Mahase Vishwanauth were not required to plead to the indictable charge read to them by Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
The allegation against the men is that on December 21, at La Penitence they maliciously wounded Jamal Curwen Jones with intent to commit murder.
Prosecutor Michael Grant objected to the defendants receiving their pretrial liberty, citing the nature and gravity of the offence. Grant also stated that Jones is still hospitalized in a serious condition.
The prosecutor said that on the day in question, at about 17:30 hrs the virtual complainant was walking on Middle Road, La Penitence when he met the two defendants. A misunderstanding occurred and the two men armed themselves with a broken bottle and a knife and beat him to an unconscious state, the court was told.
Michael, 36, was represented by Attorney Charles Ramson, while Mahase, 49, appeared unrepresented.
Ramson, in a bail application, told the court that his client who lives at 36 Fourth Street, La Penitence had no antecedents. He added that the defendant has been in a common-law relationship for nine years and that union produced two children.
The businessman, who is also a miner, counsel said, was not far from where his brother and the virtual complainant were involved in a fight.
In a bid to stop the fight he ran and pulled his brother away from Jones, the attorney said, and it was then he saw blood on his brother’s clothes and also discovered that the other man had been stabbed.
“There was no reason to conclude that my client was the aggressor or participant in the fight,” counsel said, while noting that the only reason he became involved was his intention to stop the fight.
Ramson, pleading with the court to grant bail to his client, said, “he has a family and we are in the spirit of the Christmas season”, he said, while submitting that Vishwanauth is willing to adhere to any condition required by the court, even surrendering his passport and he was also willing to commit himself to return for his trial, in order for his name to be cleared of the charge levelled against him.
However, Grant’s objection was upheld and the men were remanded. They will appear again in court on December 29.
