Pregnant woman denied bail

A seven-month pregnant mother of two was denied bail when she appeared before a Port of Spain magistrate yesterday, charged with being in a gang.

Her common-law husband, who was also arrested under Anti-Gang Act, act was also denied bail and remanded until their next court date on September 11.

Rhonda McMeo of La Puerta, Diego Martin, and Mark Ahyee were jointly charged with Kurt Cudjoe. They are accused of being members of a gang between May 27 and Aug 25.

The trio were before Magistrate Marissa Gomez who ruled in favour of the prosecution when it objected to bail.

Prosecutors said all three accused had pending matters before the courts, and should be denied bail under Section 6 of the Bail Act. Attorney Alexia Romero, who represented McMeo and Ahyee, told the court McMeo had two pending matters connected to one incident, of which one matter was dismissed. She said Ahyee has only one matter pending.

The magistrate was asked to consider that McMeo was seven months’ pregnant and has two children ages six and nine.

Sherisse Chattoo, representing Cudjoe, told Gomez he was a father of two.

Cudjoe was also charged with being in possession of 4.5 grammes of marijuana. He pleaded guilty and was fined $2,000.