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alexk
Guest
A 21-year-old man accused of kidnapping and raping a 12-year-old schoolboy days before he was due to sit the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exam has been denied bail.
Josiah Kyle Nicholas, of Cascade, was remanded into custody after appearing before Magistrate Adia Mohammed in the Port-of-Spain Magistrate’s Court on nine charges related to his attack on the child on April 28.
Nicholas was also charged with nine other offences related to similar attacks on two men and a woman, which occurred on separate dates last month. He was not called upon to plead to the charges, which were laid indictably.
In relation to the alleged incident with the 12-year-old boy, Nicholas was charged with sexual touching, buggery, possession of a firearm, common assault, robbery with aggravation, kidnapping, false imprisonment and driving without a driver’s permit and insurance.
The child was allegedly walking along Gordon Street, Port-of-Spain, when he was abducted. He was allegedly robbed and sexually assaulted before being let out along the Lady Young Road, Morvant.
Still traumatised by the incident, the child did not sit the exam last Thursday. The Ministry of Education has agreed to him sit the exam on a later date with special concessions.
Nicholas was also charged with robbing and sexually assaulting a 37-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man hours before he attacked the 12-year-old.
He is accused robbing and committing grievous sexual assault against the female victim during an incident at her home around 2.30 pm.
Less than an hour later, he allegedly attacked the man while he was waiting on transport at Mausica Road, D’Abadie. The man was forced at gunpoint into a vehicle and taken to an abandoned house at Andrew Lane, D’Abadie, where he was forced to remove his clothes. Nicholas was charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment in relation to that crime.
Nicholas was also charged with abducting an 18-year-old man at gunpoint while he was waiting for transport along the Churchill Roosevelt Highway in Trincity on April 8. The victim was taken to the same abandoned house where he was attacked. Nicholas was charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, buggery, grievous sexual assault and robbery in relation to that incident.
During his hearing before Mohammed, police prosecutors objected to bail for Nicholas, as they pointed out his criminal record showed he had an outstanding robbery charge.
While Mohammed granted him $40,000 bail for driving without a driver’s permit and insurance, she refused to consider bail for the other charges against the boy until the issue with the outstanding charge is clarified. She adjourned the case to this morning.
Even if Nicholas is granted bail on the seven charges against the boy, he will not be immediately released as he has to appear in the Arima Magistrate’s Court tomorrow to answer the charges for the other crimes which allegedly occurred in east Trinidad.
Nicholas was represented by Shiva Boodoo and Roshni Balkaran.