Make access to bail easier

According to Feeles, the administrative system at the St George West District Magistrates’ Court (Port-of-Spain and environs), which requires accused persons who were granted cash bail by a magistrate to produce bank statements for the previous six months to prove that their bank account had sufficient funds to cover bail, was arbitrary and unfair.

He said the requirement for continuous money in the account is absurd. “People may fear money could have been allocated via criminal means. But there are very common legal ways that funds can be acquired to satisfy the necessary bail requirement such as fund-raising events, donations or a family coming together to allocate the required cash,” he said.

He intends to seek a meeting with Archie in an attempt to have the system changed.

Feeles and his association is acting on behalf of Benjamin Yearwood who, despite being granted cash bail in the sum of $10,000 by a magistrate in March, has been unable to access bail as his wife, Terry-Ann Lester, cannot provide a minimum balance of the bail amount in a bank account for the last six months as being demanded by the Clerk of the Peace III.

“Why is it that poor people are unable to access freedom particularly when a magistrate has set bail?” Feeles asked.

“This also puts a strain on the prison service.” Also lending support at the impromptu press conference at the Hall of Justice, Port-of-Spain on Friday was Jerome Henry who is before the court on charges of wilfully neglecting his son, Josiah Henry, who drowned in September after falling into a drain in Belmont, and who was also unable to access bail for a month due to the same demands by the Clerk of the Peace III in his case.

Henry and his sister, Joanne Henry, spoke of the unfairness of the system as poor people.