(Trinidad Guardian) Suspended Police Constable Valentine Eastman will have to stand trial before a judge and jury on 13 charges of human trafficking involving three Colombian women.
As the State closed its case yesterday, Deputy Chief Magistrate Mark Wellington committed Eastman to stand trial in the San Fernando High Court and granted him new bail of TT$250,000 or a cash alternative of TT$120,000.
Conceding that a prima facie case had been made out against his client, attorney Kevin Ratiram did not make a no-case submission.
Ratiram, however, asked for a reduction in bail and a cash alternative of TT$30,000, which he said was affordable to his client.
Given the number of charges, however, Wellington said the cash bail requested was too small.
Eastman, 55, was the first person in T&T to be charged under the Trafficking in Persons Act of 2011.
The officer, of Princes Town, who was last assigned to the Mon Repos Police Station and has 25 years service, was initially released on TT$350,000 bail after being charged.
The charges included transporting the women to Vistabella for the purpose of exploiting them for prostitution and receiving the women into the country or transporting or harbouring them for the purpose of exploitation.
The charges, laid by PC Ramlogan of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, allegedly took place between March 3 and March 24, 2013.
Each time the matter was heard in the San Fernando First Court it was held in camera.
State attorney Sarah de Silva led evidence from 16 witnesses during the proceedings which began in September 2014.
Two of the victims who are in the Witness Protection Programme were brought to court yesterday.
As Eastman was escorted from the courthouse in handcuffs, he used his shirt to cover his head.
