Accused denied bail...again

Chris Thomas, 31, of Building No. 21, Maloney Gardens, appeared on Tuesday before Senior Magistrate Indrani Cedeno in the First Court, where he was denied bail, having similarly been refused bail when he stood in court on Monday.

Charges allege that Thomas, a father of one and taxi driver, was arrested on May 7 along Caura Royal Road, with an unlicensed nine-millimetre calibre pistol and eight rounds of ammunition.

The charges were laid indictably and he was not called upon to enter a plea. Thomas was represented by attorneys Shevonne Francis and Indarjit Seuraj.

Thomas was arrested together with Troy Lane, who hanged himself while being detained at the Homicide Bureau’s Arouca offices on May 8, for enquiries into the May 7 murder of PH driver Rasheed Khan. In his application for bail for his client on Monday, Seuraj said Thomas was the sole income earner in the family and was in custody for ten days prior to being charged.

Seuraj also submitted that it was unacceptable that police had not done a tracing of Thomas’ criminal history. Seuraj told Magistrate Cedeno his client had one prior conviction and pending matters for robbery offences. In giving her ruling, Cedeno said she was denying bail on the basis of Thomas’ previous conduct as as well as the nature of further enquiries surrounding his arrest on May 7. Thomas was reminded of his right to apply to a Judge in Chambers for bail and ordered back in court on May 31.