St Thomas man charged with murder granted $500,000 bail

Forty-five-year-old Milton Bent, who is charged with the murder of his common-law wife's brother, was today offered $500,000 with sureties in the St Thomas Parish Court.

Strict conditions were imposed and Bent was ordered to report to the police twice per week.

Bent, who is from Seaforth in the parish, was ordered to return to court on September 7.

The body of 24-year-old Danja Pareedon was found in bushes in Eleven Miles, Bull Bay, St Andrew in December 2017.

The deceased was strangled and the body burnt.

In applying to bail, defence lawyer Hensley Williams argued that the prosecution had no case against Bent, an ex-British soldier, who was arrested last month.

He further argued that there was no nexus between Bent and the murder and that the prosecution was relying on mere suspicion.

However, the prosecution, in objecting to the bail application, argued that Bent was a flight risk and that the police had been searching for him for more than three years.

Williams asked for the arrest warrant to be produced arguing that no such document is in the case file.

Williams argued that Bent had always been in his community building houses and transacting business.

It is being alleged that Bent came to Jamaica from England on December 10, 2017.

He reportedly told the mother of his child to pick him up at the airport on December 12, 2017, as that was the day he was to arrive in the island and she did so on that day.

The Crown is alleging that on December 10, 2017, Bent took the deceased from an entertainment centre and strangled him because the deceased had used his debit card to withdraw money in 2015.

Williams told the judge that the prosecution had not presented any proof that money was withdrawn from Bent's account and that his client claims no loss from his account.

The court, after hearing the submissions, granted Bent bail.

- Barbara Gayle

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