The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

SIX people, including a woman and a teenage boy, were arraigned in the Freeport Magistrate’s Court yesterday in connection with the death of a man found last week with multiple bodily injuries in the Freeport area.

Kivan Keyano Wilkinson, 20; Kyle Jamaal Forbes, 20; Natoris Deano Taylor, 23; and a 17-year-old boy who cannot be named due to his age, all of Pioneer’s Loop, Freeport, were charged with murder before Deputy Chief Magistrate Debbye Ferguson.

It is alleged that on Friday, March 15, they intentionally caused the death of Charles Rolle Jr.

Carlson Shurland represented Wilkinson and the juvenile while Wendell Smith represented Forbes and Simone Brown represented Taylor.

The four accused were not required to enter a plea to the charge of murder as a preliminary inquiry will be held to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for the matter to be tried in the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Tanielle Whyms, 42, of Almond Road, Pioneer’s Loop; and Demiko Baillou, 36, of Guinep Street, Pioneer’s Loop, were both charged with abetment to commit murder in connection with Rolle Jr’s death.

Tamar Moss represented Whyms, and Baillou was not represented by an attorney. They were not required to enter a plea to the charge and a preliminary inquiry will be held in the matter.

Relatives of the six accused persons packed the small courtroom for the arraignment which got underway around noon after a delay of nearly two hours. Magistrate Ferguson, who held court proceedings in the Industrial Tribunal due to construction work underway at the Garnet Levarity Justice Centre, apologised for the delay.

Prosecutor Veron Rolle noted that under the Bail Act, the accused could not be granted bail from the Magistrate’s Court.

Magistrate Ferguson advised the accused that they would have to make bail applications to the Supreme Court.

In addressing the court, Mr Shurland noted that with the amount of people accused there is an obvious issue of who actually committed the crime, and expressed the urgency of the need to make a bail application as he did not want his clients, particularly the juvenile, being transferred to Nassau and remanded to prison.

“We need to make a bail application and we also need Rolle (the prosecutor) to ensure that witness statements of everyone is provided to us as the Bail Act requires an evaluation of the strength of evidence and we will need to have the documents that the prosecution will rely on,” he said.

Mr Rolle responded that disclosure is not an issue and explained that Mr Shurland is aware the documents first have to be sent to the Attorney General’s Office, which will disclose the evidence to counsel.

“A young man’s and a woman’s liberty are at stake; if we don’t get disclosure right away they will be sent to Nassau,” argued Mr Shurland.

The judge instructed the prosecutor to provide the necessary documents and witness statements to counsel by today so that the accused would not have to be sent to New Providence and then returned right back to Grand Bahama.

She adjourned the matter to June 20 for a preliminary inquiry.

After the arraignment, a small crowd of about 30 people gathered at the rear of the courthouse to get a glimpse of the six accused. As they were led outside, the juvenile had a jacket covering his face and head.

People shouted at the group as they made their way to the police van, and a woman was heard continually shouting at them “Justice for CJ”.