4 kidnap accused at Golden Grove Prison

UP TO late yesterday evening, the four persons charged with kidnapping four-year-old Saada Singh and who appeared before acting deputy Chief Magistrate Mark Wellington, were still in prison because no one came forward to stand their bail. Each one of the four was granted $100,000 bail with conditions. In confirming this yesterday, defence attorney Keith Beckles said that up to last night, all four were detained at Golden Grove Prison in Arouca. Kenrick George, 20, and Sebastien Mitchell, 31, both of Gonzales Village in Point Fortin, who claimed to have kept Singh for two days and who released her, are now the State’s main witnesses against Kimberly Moonsammy, her cousin Jonathan Moonsammy, Coleen Osbourne and Keston Franklyn.

This was confirmed yesterday by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Dennis Graham. The two men who kept Singh in a shack in a forested area have given police written statements. One of them gave a description of the man who handed over the girl to him. Newsday was reliably informed by a source in the Director of Public Prosecutions Office that George and Mitchell are to be charged with child imprisonment. The DPP, the source disclosed, will then enter a nolle pros (no prosecution) in exchange for the men’s testimony against the four kidnapping accused. Newsday was told that both George and Mitchell are currently under 24-hour police protection.

However, attorney Beckles, representing Franklyn, yesterday said that it was morally reprehensible for George and Mitchell to be used as witnesses because, “they have admitted lack of knowledge of the victim being kidnapped.” “It is morally reprehensible. Who is the principal offender in this. The victim was abandoned for which a charge of child abandonment can be preferred. Why was the victim not taken to the nearby Guapo Police Station or the hospital. It will be interesting to see how the State intends to propagate that these men did not know the victim was not kidnapped,” Beckles said.