Three appear in court in connection with fake police station

THREE Diego Martin men have been denied bail by a Port of Spain magistrate after they appeared in court on charges arising out of last Friday's discovery of a house on Union Road painted in the colours of a police station with the design of the Star of David on the gates.

Virgil Pompey, Matthew John and Yohan Norgiff appeared before magistrate Rehanna Hosein in the 4B Court where they were jointly charged with falsely imprisoning four Venezuelan women and having sexual intercourse with two of them.

All three were charged just before midnight on Wednesday and police said they were unable to get a record of tracing to determine if they had any convictions or pending cases against them.
In denying bail, Hosein said, notwithstanding the men were only charged late last night, she was not prepared to consider bail without their criminial records.

However, she advised them of their right to apply for bail before a judge.

The three were represented by attorneys Keith Scotland and Alexia Romero, and are to return to court next Tuesday.

Wednesday, attorneys representing the men were successful in obtaining a writ of habeas corpus from a High Court judge to have the police justify their detention or release them. However, the men were charged hours later.

It is alleged that the victims were house hunting and were directed to a house at Union Road, off Morne Coco Road, Diego Martin, where they were held hostage.