More than a month after a high court judge granted a murder accused bail, that accused is still at HMP Dodds now caught in the middle of the ongoing problems which are plaguing the Supreme Court Complex at Whitepark Road.
It was on March 13 this year that Justice Pamela Beckles granted 22-year-old Rackeem “Rats” Shaquille Alleyne $100 000 bail with up to four sureties.
However, since then, staff of the Registration Department has been advised to stay away from the building after they were repeatedly falling ill as a result of a build-up of fungus and other environmental issues.
Alleyne, of Golden Rock, The Pine, St Michael, is charged with the May 12, 2016 murder of Scherno Rose. Rose, 40, and a father of two, was gunned down in an alleged drive-by shooting as he limed at a shop a short distance away from his house in Neil’s Tenantry, St Michael.
The judge had ordered the accused off the streets from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. as part of his bail; told him to report to Central Police Station every Monday, Wednesday and Friday by 10 a.m. and confiscated his travel documents as well.
However, his attorney Lalu Hanuman said the problems facing the Whitepark Road facility have seen Alleyne remain on remand even though he has found a suitable surety.
The attorney admitted the accused had “taken a little while” to find someone to satisfy the $100 000 bail.
Court closed
“We went back to the court; we had a date, April 6, given to us to come back with the sureties. We went back on that date but the court was closed because of the situation, and I have been trying to get the matter dealt with but the court was closed,” Hanuman told the Weekend Nation yesterday.
The attorney said he “unilaterally” went to the court last Friday to have the matter dealt with but was told nothing could happen because the court’s file in locked in the vault of the Registry.
In addition, he said the title deeds of the proposed surety were also inaccessible in that vault as she had already used them to sign bail for someone else. She wanted to withdraw as that person’s surety so she could sign for Alleyne.
“But nothing can happen because we can’t get access to the vault and in the meantime this poor fellow is up in Dodds. He should have been out on April 6,” Hanuman said.
“From April 6 until now is almost three weeks he has been languishing in Dodds and this is exclusively because of the situation at the court.”
The attorney also revealed that as a result of the ongoing problems at the Supreme Court an application for a writ of habeas corpus, which he had filed in the High Court, had been adjourned until June.
“A habeas corpus is an urgent matter and should be heard within 24 hours but it has been put off until June 24, so it’s an ongoing situation,” Hanuman said. (HLE)
