By LAMECH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
ljohnson@tribunemedia.net
A MAN was remanded to prison without bail yesterday after being charged with the alleged sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl.
Welkin Aly, 24, of John Chippingham Street, appeared before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt facing a single charge of unlawful sexual intercourse, alleged to have been committed on December 19.
Aly, however, was not required to enter a plea to the charge, which is an indictable offence that carries up to life imprisonment if a conviction is secured at the end of trial in the Supreme Court.
He was told that his case would be fast-tracked to the Supreme Court for trial through service of a voluntary bill of indictment. That presentation will occur at his next Magistrates Court appearance scheduled for February 17, 2016.
The chief magistrate concluded the arraignment noting that the nature of the charge removed the court’s discretion to consider bail and further informed the accused of his right to apply for bail to the Supreme Court.
Aly was unrepresented in yesterday’s arraignment.
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