Family of murder accused happy over bail ruling

A relative of murder accused Joel King, who is the first person charged with murder to be granted bail, said on Saturday all arrangements have been put in place to take care of him when he is eventually released from prison.

"I am very happy he got the bail," the relative said during a brief telephone interview.

On Friday, Master Nalini Singh ruling that King, also called Joel Grimes, and Catty, who is facing trial for a 2014 murder in Belmont, was entitled to $1.5 million bail with a surety.

He is yet to access this bail, however, as he has pending firearm-related charges connected to the 2014 incident for which his attorney, Larry Williams, intends to apply for bail.

King was committed to stand trial in 2017 for the murder of Nkosi Harricharan at Hermitage Street, Belmont, which took place on April 15, 2014.

Singh said the State failed to show why King should not be released on bail.

She imposed 21 conditions for his bail which included a curfew, strict reporting conditions, and restriction of his movements. He cannot ply a car for hire, go to the beach or river, leave Trinidad, or be in any public place where alcohol is sold or there is dancing, among others.

King's successful application was the first time in over a century anyone charged with murder was granted bail.

On February 17, the Court of Appeal cleared the way for anyone charged with murder to apply for bail.

Friday's first successful bail application was not the first for King's attorney who also successfully introduced DNA evidence in a rape case leading to his client's acquittal.

He also did the first maximum sentence indication hearing which saw Chief Justice Ivor Archie presiding over it in the Assizes; the first judge-only trial and the first guilty plea for murder on the felony murder construct.

In commenting on Friday's ruling, Williams, a criminal defence attorney since 1999, said the ruling now gives men, and women, who are innocent until proven guilty "hope."

He said for King and many others they can await their day in court while with their families. "The inordinate time it takes to bring a matter to trial – sometimes a decade – means a person would have lost half their adult life when, in the end, they are acquitted of the charge."

In its ruling on the question of bail for murder, the Appeal Court ruled that Section 5(1) of the Bail Act of 1994, which previously precluded judicial officers from considering bail for persons accused of murder, was unconstitutional.

It said this was not reasonably justifiable in a society that is concerned about the rights and freedoms of the individual.

“The unanimous view of this panel is that, by removing the jurisdiction of High Court Judges to grant bail to persons charged with murder, section 5 has trespassed on a core judicial function,” Archie, who wrote the judgment, said.

This ruling is being challenged by the State at the Privy Council while Friday's bail application is expected to be appealed by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in the coming week.