Appeal Court: High Court Masters can't grant bail for murder

MASTERS of the High Court cannot grant bail to anyone for the offence of murder, the Appeal Court has ruled.

On Tuesday, Justices of Appeal Alice Yorke-Soo Hon, Gregory Smith and Mira Dean-Armorer revoked the $1.2 million bail granted to the Belmont man who made history when a High Court master, in 2022, granted him bail on the charge of murder.

Joel King was the first successful bail application for murder in more than a century after the Court of Appeal, on February 17, ruled that Section 5(1) of the Bail Act of 1994, which banned bail for people charged with murder, was unconstitutional.

The ruling on bail for murder was upheld by the Privy Council, last year.

After King was granted bail by Master Nalini Singh in March 2022, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) appealed.

Former assistant DPP Nigel Pilgrim, who argued for the prosecution, contended that Singh did not have the jurisdiction to grant bail for murder as it was not permitted by the Bail Act.

Pilgrim said only High Court judges could consider bail for murder.

In their ruling, the judges agreed, holding that the office of a master was a statutory one and they did not have any inherent common law power judges did.

“ As such, the inherent common law discretion of a High (Supreme) Court judge to grant bail for the offence of murder would not apply to masters.

“We, therefore, conclude that the Learned Master had no jurisdiction to grant bail to the respondent.”

And while they were resolute in their finding that masters did not have the power to grant bail for murder, they held there could be appeals from a decision on bail for offences under the Bail Act.

“We conclude that assuming that the master had jurisdiction to grant bail to the respondent (which we deny) an appeal would lie to the Court of Appeal from that decision.”

They also held that Singh did not fully investigate King's character and antecedents before granting him bail.

“In the instant matter, the master ought to have fully satisfied herself that she had a full picture of the respondent not only prior to being charged but also after the charge." They said she had the “barest of information” about him before he was charged and knew nothing about the eight years he has been in custody awaiting trial.

“A complete consideration of the respondent’s character, whether good or bad, during this period prior to the application, was extremely significant and could not be ignored," as they also agreed with Pilgrim’s argument that Singh did not sufficiently consider the strength of the prosecution’s evidence or the severity of the penalty for murder.

In their ruling, judges admitted that the court’s discretion to grant bail for murder in Trinidad and Tobago was an area which was not previously traversed until recently in the landmark case of Akili Charles.

King, also known as Joel “Catty” Grimes, is accused of murdering Nkosi Harricharan at Hermitage Road in Belmont on April 15, 2014.

Although he was granted bail in March, last year, King never accessed it and remains on remand in prison.

He was represented by attorneys Ravi Rajcoomar, Larry Williams, Shaun Morris, Ryan Rajcoomar and Toni Roberts. The PDD was represented by chief public defender Hasine Shaikh and her deputy Raphael Morgan, Adaphia Trancuso-Riberto and Shane Patience.

Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes and Peter Carter represented the Law Association.