$250,000 bail for SRP

Joseph returned to court yesterday before Forde-John for her to determine bail based on whether he was a holder of a TT Passport, so it can be surrendered as a condition of bail being granted. Joseph, 36, who was last based at San Juan Police Sub-station, was arrested and charged with robbing Chinese national Wei Hui Zhu of $406,000, at his Soledad Road, Claxton Bay home. The SRP is also alleged to have robbed Zhu of an Apple Iphone 7 ($7,000) and an FX Revolution rifle ($20,000). Another charge of robbing Jinfu Zhu of an Apple Iphone 6 valued $6,000, was also read to Joseph.

He appeared on Wednesday on those charges before Forde-John but was remanded into custody to determine whether he had a passport which the police prosecutor had requested be seized as a condition to bail. Joseph, who had been a special reserve police officer for the past three years, yesterday appeared in the prisoners’ docks in handcuffs. He was brought down from Maximum Security Prison in a separate vehicle from the normal batch of prisoners.

Court prosecutor Cleyon Seedan, told Magistrate Forde-John yesterday that records from the Immigration Department showed that Joseph has a passport, but it expired on July 5, 1995. Forde- John granted Joseph bail to cover the charges, excluding the charge of possession of the ammunition.

That charge was read to him on Wednesday as well but was transferred to the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ court. The charge alleged that on Friday last at the San Juan Police Sub-station, Eastern Main Road, he had the ammunition while being a person exempted under Section Seven of the Firearm Act, and not being the holder of a firearm user licence in respect of the said ammunition.

When Joseph appears on Monday to answer that charge, the magistrate would determine the issue of bail. Yesterday, Forde-John did not offer Joseph’s attorney Sade Lee-Duprey, a cash deposit as an alternative to the $250,000 bail.