Roxanne Cudjoe on $100,000 bail

UPDATED:

A Siparia magistrate yesterday granted bail in the sum of $100,000 to Penal hairdresser, 32-year-old Roxanne Cudjoe who allegedly harboured prisoner and multiple fraud-accused Vicky Boodram.

Cudjoe was absent when the matter was called before magistrate Margaret Alert. Prosecutor Sheldon Ablacksingh told Alert a policewoman was not assigned to escort Cudjoe from the prison. The bail was granted in her absence and is to be approved by a clerk of the peace.

Sgt Lawrence Joefield charged Cudjoe, of Lachoos Road, Penal, with unlawfully harbouring Boodram at her home with intent to impede Boodram’s arrest.

On Tuesday, Cudjoe first appeared before a Port-of-Spain magistrate who denied bail and transferred the matter to Siparia for her to appear yesterday. The charge was laid indictably and she was not called upon to plead.

In his application for bail on her behalf, her attorney Richard Clarke-Wills said his client has strong family ties. She is a mother of one and works at a lotto booth and moonlights as a hairdresser, he said.

Clarke-Wills told Alert, although Cudjoe’s criminal record states she has three pending matters - two in 2011 and one in 2013 - they were determined. The prosecutor made no objection to bail. He said the maximum penalty for the offence is $100,000 or five years in prison. Alert adjourned the matter to today for certain documents to be disclosed.

Cudjoe was among four people who, on Tuesday, appeared in the Port of Spain court charged in connection with

35-year-old Boodram’s escape from the Women’s Prison in Arouca two Monday’s ago. She was recaptured by police on Thursday last week at a house in Penal.

Constables LeVon Sylvester and Lisa Navarro were charged with aiding and abetting her escape as well as misbehaviour in public office. Boodram, who has 175 fraud-related matters pending in various court, was charged with escaping lawful custody.

Ag Chief Magistrate Maria Busby Earle-Caddle had granted each police officer $300,000 bail while she denied bail to Boodram.