Bail denied to Lengua man charged with kidnapping

A Princes Town magistrate on Thursday denied bail to a 26-year-old man charged with three offences that stemmed from an alleged kidnapping.

Darrion Thomas faced magistrate Indira Misir-Gosine charged with kidnapping a 40-year-old man for $1,000 ransom, false imprisonment, and demanding money by menace.

Cpl Suliman of the Barrackpore police station laid the charges.

Attorney Petronella Basdeo represented the accused, a mason from Lengua Village, and applied for bail on his behalf.

Prosecutor Sgt Shazeed Mohammed objected saying the allegations are serious and prevalent.The magistrate denied bail, remanded Thomas into custody and adjourned the case to December 16.

Police arrested Thomas on Sunday night at a house in St Croix Road, in the Barrackpore district on Sunday night.

Police said around at around 9.30 pm on Sunday, the victim was at his St Croix Road home when two men called out to him by name. He went outside, and they bundled him into a car and drove off.

The men took him to a house along the same road and demanded money. They also ordered him to call a relative and ask for $1,000 for his safe release.

Police were called in and Sgt Parasram, Cpl Suliman and other officers from the Barrackpore station responded. Princes Town police and members of the Emergency Response Patrol unit also helped to search for the victim.

Police arrested Thomas, but another man escaped.

In an unrelated case, the same magistrate granted Thomas $75,000 bail with a surety to be approved by a registrar and a cash alternative of $20,000 charged with wounding a man.

Thomas allegedly hit a man with a piece of wood at St Croix Road, Princes Town, on November 6. He also allegedly cut off some of the victim’s dreadlocks during the incident.

Barrackpore police, including PC Burton, investigated and arrested him on Sunday. This case was also adjourned to December 16.