Woman, son on arms charge

A Claxton Bay man, his mother and his girlfriend appeared in the Couva Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday charged with possession of a Glock pistol, ammunition and marijuana.

Nicholas Ramdhan, his mother Charmaine Ramdhan and his girlfriend Jeneva Razack, appeared before Senior Magistrate Siumongal Ramsaran to answer the charges. The trio was arrested at Nicholas’ Hilltop Drive, Mt Pleasant Road, Springvale, Claxton Bay home on Monday when Couva police executed a search warrant. They were represented by attorney Shiva Boodoo. Sgt Ken Ali of the Couva CID laid the charges. They were all jointly charged that on January 15 at Hilltop Drive, Claxton Bay, they had in their possession one Glock 17 pistol without being the holders of a Firearms Users License. They were also charged that on the same day at the same place, they had in their possession 15 rounds of .9mm ammunition as well as five grammes of marijuana.

Nicholas pleaded guilty to the marijuana charge and not guilty to the possession of the firearm and the possession of ammunition. He was fined $5,000 for the marijuana or he will serve nine months hard labor in default. He was given two months to pay the fine. Charmaine pleaded not guilty to all three charges.

Razack, a mother of one, also pleaded not guilty to all three charges. In his application for bail, Boodoo told the court that Nicholas is a welder who does odd jobs around the community. He is a father of one and has one previous conviction for possession of marijuana in 2016. Boodoo said Charmaine does not live at Nicholas’ home but lives at Mon Repos Road, Morvant. Boodoo said she was staying with Nicholas because of the recent murders in Claxton Bay. He said she suffers from a disability.

He said Razack works as a clerk in Point Lisas and also did not live with Nicholas. He said she lives at Sum Sum Hill Claxton Bay. Prosecutor Sgt Bonnett objected to Nicholas’ bail, citing the prevalence of gun related murders in the country. He said there had also been two murders within a close range to Nicholas’ home for the month.

Ramsaran said he had to take the prevalence of the crimes as well as the seriousness of the allegations into consideration. He said if he did not take these factors into consideration in granting bail, he would be failing in his duty as a magistrate. The magistrate granted Nicholas bail in the sum of $350,000 with a surety and clerk of the peace approval. Charmaine and Razack were granted $150,000 bail each with a surety and clerk of the peace approval.

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"Woman, son on arms charge"

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