The Tribune

By PAVEL BAILEY

Tribune Court Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

POLITICAL hopeful Lincoln Bain was once again charged in court with unlawful assembly on Friday after protesting outside Baha Mar ahead of a CARICOM meeting on Wednesday.

This comes as Bain faces separate charges in the Magistrate’s Court for unlawful assembly in connection with his protest outside Parliament Square last October. That demonstration was held in response to the country’s “immigration crisis”.

Bain, 44, leader of the Coalition of Independents (COI) party, along with 17 other defendants appeared before Senior Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans.

Bain, who entered the court to the sound of cheers echoing in the cellblock, was charged with Richard Armbrister, 34, Richard Cartwright, 61, Stephen Basden, 47, Lester Roache, 50, Sammy Davis, 59, Alten Duhaney, 56, Conroy Ingraham, 47, Devon Emmanuel, 26, George Griffin, 47, Travis Brodie, 33, Daniel Mitchell, 45, Christopher Forbes, 39, Crystal Smith, 30, Charlotte Green, 41, Symphony Knowles, 39, Rokia Russell, 28, and Veronica Bethell, 58.

All of the 18 defendants faced charges of unlawful assembly and idle assembly. All, except for Bain, faced a further charge of disorderly behaviour.

Smith, Green, Knowles, Cartwright and Russell all faced further charges of resisting arrest from W/ASP Cooper. Knowles, Cartwright and Russell were also charged with assaulting the same police officer. Griffin also faced a charge of assaulting Sgt 3417 Neely.

These charges all stem from the defendants’ arrest after an attempted demonstration outside the Baha Mar convention centre on February 15 as officials gathered ahead of the 44th CARICOM Heads of Government meeting. There it is alleged the accused disturbed the peace and acted in a tumultuous manner.

The 18 defendants, in view of their respective lawyers Alex Dorsett, Elsworth Johnson and Maria Daxon, all pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

One defendant, Smith, appeared visibly unwell in court and was allowed to sit down as her charges were read. Her lawyer Mr Johnson then told the magistrate that she had received injuries during her arrest.

As there were no objections to bail from prosecutor ASP Lewis for any of the defendants it was granted to them at ranges of $2,000 to $4,000 depending on the number of charges faced by the individual.

Under the conditions of this bail most defendants are expected to sign in at their respective local station every Saturday by 7pm.

However, due to Smith’s health issues, the completion of her bail hearing was delayed to February 20 as she was released into the custody of a family member.

During his bail consideration Bain, who is unvaccinated, and his lawyer Mr Johnson explained to the magistrate that Bain has to travel to the US frequently by boat for his sick child’s hospital treatment. It was said that the COI leader typically travels over the weekend and asked for an alternative sign-in condition.

On condition he bring proof of his dependent’s medical condition to court, Magistrate Vogt-Evans gave Bain a temporary bail order to only sign in at South Beach Station the last Tuesday of every month.

Knowles, Bethell, Cartwright, Griffin, Davis, Roache, Mitchell and Forbes have their trial set to start on May 4.

Then Duhaney, Armbrister, Smith, Green, Russell, Bodie, Emmanuel, Ingraham and Basden’s trial will begin on May 8.

Bain alone faces trial on May 10.