ROSEAU, DOMINICA-Chief Magistrate Candia Carette George has ruled in favour of the prosecution in a bail application involving Police Constable Anthony Francis Jr.
Constable Francis, who at the time of his arrest was stationed at the Mahaut Police Station, was slapped with possession of five (5) rounds of 12-gauge ammunition without being a holder of a valid license in respect to that ammunition. He was also charged with possession of 20 rounds of 7.5 mm ammunition without being the holder of a valid license in respect of the same.
The third charge was theft of 61 rounds of 9mm ammunition valued at $151.50, thirty-six (36) rounds of 5.56 ammunition valued at $108.00, five (5) rounds of 12 gauge ammunition valued at $35.00, twenty (20) rounds of 7.5 ammunition valued at $100.00 and 286 gramks of cocaine valued at $7,722.00 all to the total value of $8,117.50 the property of the Commonwealth of Dominica Police Force.
His lawyer, Tiyani Behanzin, in seeking the court’s intervention to grant his client bail, stated that his client was “a model police officer” and is “innocent until proven guilty of an allegation.”
He also asked the court to “impose conditions on his client who will respect whatever conditions that are imposed on him by the court.
However, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Sherma Dalrymple, representing the prosecution, explained to the court that section 7 (1) ( c) drug trafficking and (d) offence under the Firearm Act, 2011 punishable by a term of imprisonment of 5 years or more of the Bail Act states in part, “the court shall not grant bail to a defendant unless it is satisfied that appropriate circumstances exist to justify the granting of bail.”
DPP Dalrymple also told the court under section 7 (2) (e) that it was “not in the public’s interest to grant bail to the defendant.”
She also told the court, “that although the value of the ammunition stolen is small, they are potent, made to kill, and are in the hands of criminals and the court ought to take those into consideration when considering if to grant bail or not.”
She also brought in firearms expert Jefferson Ferrol to testify on the potency of the missing ammunition.
After considering the submissions from the defense and prosecution, the court ruled that “it was not in the public’s interest to grant bail at this time to the defendant and remanded him to the State’s Prison in Stock Farm.