$200,000 bail for ‘Sunday’

Akido “Sunday” Williams was granted $200,000 bail on Friday by Chief Magistrate Maria Busby Earle-Caddle. Williams, who was previously denied bail on October 17, appeared before the chief magistrate at the Port of Spain Magistrates’ Court on Friday, where his attorneys Wayne Sturge and Alexia Romero submitted that their client was entitled to bail on the basis that the prosecution could not prove any of the grounds it was relying on for bail to be denied.

On October 17, acting deputy Chief Magistrate Cherill-Anne Antoine denied Williams bail because of the seriousness of the charge against him.

He is charged with counselling an alleged gang leader sometime in November last year, at Beetham Gardens and other locations, and providing instructions or guidance in furtherance of gang-related activities.

Antoine said she considered the arguments of Williams’ attorney and the prosecution on the question of bail and was exercising her discretion, as afforded to her under Section 6(3)(a) of the Bail Act of 1994, in denying bail.

That section sets out the circumstances in which bail may be denied and the sub-section Antoine relied on allows the court to consider the nature and seriousness of the offence.

She also said that section also considers the prevalence of the offences, and she took into consideration the prosecution’s arguments that Williams may abscond, as the offence he is accused of carries a 25-year sentence. The matter had been transferred to Earle-Caddle, who is also presiding over the cases of alleged gang leader Ancil “Chemist” Antoine and two others.

In Williams’ case, police prosecutors on Friday again objected to bail on the grounds that he was already out on bail when he allegedly committed the gang-related offence and that he was likely to abscond and interfere with witnesses.

They also sought introduce two matters for which he was charged – robbery with aggravation and robbery with violence – but the defence provided court extracts to show those matters had already been dealt with and were not pending against him.

However, Williams’ attorneys argued that the prosecution could not raise an argument of “seriousness of the offence” since it was a consideration for a magistrate. They also argued that the prosecution failed to provide evidence that Williams was likely to abscond since he had an “impeccable record” of attending court, dating back to 1998, for matter which carried more serious penalties, including life in prison.

They also said the police failed to provide evidence that he was also likely to interfere with witnesses if granted bail.

According to the attorneys, Williams, when he heard his name being called on two television crime programmes, he surrendered to police with his attorney.

They also submitted he had ten children, was gainfully employed with the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and had strong ties to the community.

He surrendered to police on October 2, the day after three men from Beetham Gardens appeared in court charged with gang-related offences.