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The Moruga man who claimed that police officers set him on fire in a police station five years ago has been denied bail on a robbery charge.
Jamerson John appeared in the Princes Town Magistrates’ Court, the same court where seven police officers were recently committed to stand trial in connection with the burning incident.
John is charged that on March 22, that he, along with another person, armed with a firearm, robbed a Princes Town mini-mart owner of cash and other items. John pleaded not guilty to the charge which was laid by PC Jackman.
John’s attorney Ravi Bunsee asked magistrate Michelle Maharajh-Brown to grant him bail. However, court prosecutor Sgt Shazeed Mohammed objected to bail because of his criminal record which showed he had 19 pending matters, including firearm offences.
The magistrate advised John of his right to apply to a judge in chambers for bail and remanded him into custody.
The matter was adjourned to June 7.
In the same court, Cpl Roger Reid, Constables Bryan Dookie, Andre Watson, Simon Marshall, Pradeep Ramadhin, Atiba Teesdale and Alena Ambrally were recently committed to stand trial following a preliminary inquiry into the burning allegation. John was one of several witnesses who testified in that inquiry.
The officers are jointly charged that as serving police they allegedly misbehaved in public office on December 24, 2013, by unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on John while he was in custody at the station.
John, then 18, sustained burns to his back, torso, leg and genital area. The officers were committed by Magistrate Nalini Singh who granted each of them $100,000 bail.