A 16-year-old secondary school student charged with buggering a five-year-old boy in Claxton Bay has been granted $50,000 bail. Yesterday the teenager, with his father at his side, appeared before Couva First Court Magistrate Ann Ryan charged with buggery and serious indecency allegedly committed on the boy between January 1 and March 26, 2012. The charges were laid indictably by PC Mark Phillip. The teenager was not called upon to plead.
The accused's father pleaded for his son to be given an opportunity to continue his schooling. During the matter the teen smiled and looked around the courtroom. The father assured the court that he will bring his son to court if he is granted bail. Police Prosecutor Sgt Peter Francis did not object to bail. The teenager's father said he would stand responsibility for him. "I will take him to school," the father said.
"You should have to stand responsibility for him long before this. You should not have to wake up this morning and stand responsibility for him," the magistrate said. The father said he was a single parent and he did not know what his son was doing. He said his son's friend, pointing to Abdul Samad, would pick him up after school.
"I will make sure he comes to court ma'am," the father said as he wiped his eyes. He asked if the teen could be ordered to sign a book at the police station if he did not obey him. Magistrate Ryan sternly warned the youngster to listen to his father because she had the alternative of sending him to YTC if his father complains about his behaviour.
The teen was granted bail with his father as his surety. He will reappear in court on May 2.
