Cuban vet pleads not guilty

Giselle Galindo Morales, 30, of Havana, pleaded not guilty to the charge that at the Immigration Office, Knox Street in San Fernando, she had the passport which was allegedly tampered with.

Morales appeared before Magistrate Kerry Ann Byer who read the charge which was laid under Section 40 (j) (1) of the Immigration Act. The magistrate was told that Morales got married to a Trinidadian last month, but attorney Ainsley Lucky who pleaded for bail to be granted, was challenged by the police prosecutor, who told Magistrate Byer that there was a risk that the defendant could flee in a boat and return to Cuba.

The charge alleges that Morales committed the act of tampering with the passport, on Wednesday December 28. Magistrate Byer asked the accused woman’s husband Russel Stephen Anthony, who was present in court, to show some form of identification and he produced a marriage certificate.

The case was stood down as Anthony was allowed to go to his car to fetch his Driver’s Permit which he produced to the court when the case was recalled.

Magistrate granted Morales bail in the sum of $85,000 with a surety and adjourned the case to January 31. The magistrate was told, however, that in any event, Morales would be taken to the Immigration Centre because the date stamped on her passport for her last day of stay in this jurisdiction is today.

Attorney Lucky then told Magistrate Byer that he was quite curious as to why the alleged act was committed on December 28, but Morales was only brought to court yesterday as today is her last day to stay legally in Trinidad and Tobago.

Lucky asked Magistrate Byer to issue a summons for Arleen Kareem of Critchlow Street, San Fernando to attend court on the next occasion, because it was his view that she has answers to certain questions about the alleged committal of the offence.