Cop released on $.7M bail

RELATIVES of 19-year-old Stephan Caton stormed out of the First Magistrates’ Court in Point Fortin yesterday, after PC Sunil Tota-Maharaj, charged with attempted murder of the youth, was granted $.7 million bail. When Senior Magistrate Hubert Charles granted the bail, relatives, led by Caton’s father Mervyn, rose from their seats, shouting, “no justice! no justice!” and stormed out the courtroom. Relatives then gathered on the compound of the court, and jeered at Tota-Maharaj’s attorney, Prakash Ramadhar, and the accused’s relatives, as they left the courthouse. In response to the abrupt walkout, however, the magistrate remarked:

“The talk now is that Charlo (Charles) take — that is why he give bail.” The magistrate added: “But I have to balance the scales of justice.” PC Tota-Maharaj, 30, attached to the Inter-Agency Task Force, is alleged to have attempted to murder Caton when he shot him in the head on Borough Day, last Saturday outside a bar in Egypt Village. When Tota-Maharaj, of Temple Street, Mt Lambert, appeared on Wednesday after he was charged by Supt Samuel Jemmot, Charles remanded the accused policeman into custody.

In an application for bail yesterday, Ramadhar acknowledged that Caton was in a serious condition. The attorney, however, complained that his client had been treated as if he was charged with murder. This evoked a sarcastic outburst of laughter from Caton’s relatives inside the courtroom. Ramadhar said he shared in the sadness of the Caton family. “On behalf of my client and his family, we sympathise with what has transpired. I hope and pray that the victim becomes much better,” Ramadhar said. In postponing the matter to May 23, the magistrate also ordered Tota-Maharaj to surrender his passport.