‘Bail should not be only for rich’

Senior Counsel Andrew Pilgrim appeared in the Holetown Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday initially representing Veronica Caroline Bascom, 61, of Seaview, St James; Afiyah Akilah Asher Mounter, 29, of the same address, and Javairne Jason Thompson, 41, of Nicholls Road, Seaview.

Bascom was charged with assisting an offender, her son Kishon Anderson Lemar Thomas, who was on the run between May 2 and July 12, after escaping custody at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital while seeking treatment on May 2. She was not required to plead.

Mounter, Thomas’ partner, and Thomas’ brother Thompson faced a similar charge, as well as assaulting and resisting a police officer. They pleaded not guilty to the latter.

However, bail of $40 000 each was beyond their ability and this is when Pilgrim stepped in.

Pilgrim told the Weekend Nation it was not the first time he took such action.

“I’ve done it, probably five or six times, where I felt that the people were particularly vulnerable. So, one of these accused yesterday [Wednesday] had a threeyear-old and a seven-year-old. “The mother is 61 years old, suffers with thyroid problems and hypertension and is on medication. I thought the reason they’re not going to sleep at their homes tonight with their loved ones – people that need their care, including a 101-year-old grandmother – is the fact that they don’t have rich friends like you and me and I didn’t think that was satisfactory.”

Pilgrim said after bail was granted, Magistrate Wayne Clarke said he would not be accepting possessions, and according to the attorney, the accused were not “landed gentry”, did not have family or friends who could help and it would have been impossible for them to get someone to sign at short notice.

“I have done it in cases before, in circumstances that I thought the people were vulnerable or would have had a very difficult situation. But we take bail far too seriously in Barbados because we feel that it is a punishment,” he explained.

“The issue is whether the person is going to come to court. The issue is not whether they’re guilty or innocent, as

you will see from the comments that have probably already started to arise, the comments about whether they committed a crime, which, of course, is not relevant, because we all know that people are innocent until proven guilty.”

The three are scheduled to return to court today. Pilgrim said once “they bring an appropriate surety” to replace him, he would step aside. If they so desired, he could then resume as their attorney.

He recalled that quite early in his career, he also did the same for a woman who was around 70 years old.

Pilgrim said he was unconcerned about the accused not reappearing, noting that in the past 30 years, “maybe ten people have absconded of millions of people who’ve been before the court”.

“Bajans don’t run; Bajans face the day and get locked up.”

Convenor of the Criminal Law Committee of the Barbados Bar Association, attorney Martie Garnes, said while it was “not the norm” for an attorney to sign bail for a client, it could occur in exceptional circumstances.

“As you have heard from Senior Counsel Pilgrim, it is clear that he was trying to avert an injustice in the courtroom simply because of a person’s impecuniosity and the fact that they cannot afford the amount that was offered in respect of bail. That person should still be given the opportunity to turn up to court as is required according to the Bail Act,” he said.

Pilgrim said he firmly believed that once a person was granted bail, they should be able to go home.

“Bail shouldn’t be the exclusive right of rich people. It should be something that’s available to everybody.

“Whatever offence a person is charged with, if a court in its wisdom decides that a person is entitled to go home on bail, I don’t feel like their wealth or access to property should be the determining factor,” he added. (SAT)