Accused kidnappers remanded while judge examines case file
Published:Friday | June 3, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Christopher Thomas, Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Four persons arrested in connection with the May 3 kidnapping of a Mount Alvernia Preparatory School student in Montego Bay, St James, will have to remain in jail to allow their presiding judge to peruse the case file.
Resident Magistrate Sandra Wong-Small acknowledged that she had not finished looking over the file when the matter was brought before her in the Montego Bay RM Court yesterday.
Those answering kidnapping charges are Jonathan Mitchell, a 23-year-old cabinetmaker from Spaldings in Manchester; Trevon Tomlinson, a 22-year-old barber from Cornwall Courts, St James; Jenise Regisford, a 26-year-old guidance counsellor of Bloomfield, Connecticut, in the United States, and Cornwall Courts, St James; and a 16-year-old boy from Paradise, Montego Bay.
The defendants' lawyers made bail applications yesterday, giving assurance that their clients, if granted bail, would abide by whatever conditions the court should impose.
Petrona Wallock, Mitchell's attorney, described him as an upstanding individual with no prior arrests, and assured the judge that it is unlikely he will interfere with any of the Crown's witnesses if he is offered bail.
attorneys' submissions
Adrian Dayes submitted that his client, Tomlinson, has not hindered the investigation in any way and is prepared to find appropriate sureties for bail. Dayes added that Tomlinson is unwell at this time but has yet to see a doctor.
The teenager's lawyer, Albert Morgan, declared that his client has cooperated fully with the investigation from the outset, and that the young man's family and community are surprised at his involvement.
Regisford's attorney, Martyn Thomas, told Wong-Small that his client had no criminal record prior to her arrest, had cooperated fully with investigators, and that she was not a flight risk and was willing to submit her travel documents if need be.
Meanwhile, the prosecution expressed strong opposition to Regisford and the minor being granted bail, as Regisford had reportedly distracted the Mount Alvernia Prep School's security guard to facilitate the abduction on the day of the incident, while the minor had secured the driver of the getaway motor vehicle.
The four were eventually remanded until June 7, at which time the judge expects to have finished reviewing the case file in order to make a determination regarding bail.
The allegations are that, on May 3, the three-year-old Mount Alvernia student was abducted from the school premises while waiting to be picked up by his parents. The child was later found unharmed at premises in Manchester. Six persons, including the four accused, were subsequently detained by the police.