A TURKISH man has been accused of indecently assaulting an American teenager while she was on vacation with her family in The Bahamas last week.
His co-worker, who is also from Turkey, has been accused of assisting him with carrying out the crime.
Police arrested 27-year-old Yakup Yondem and 21-year-old Mustafa Isik after they were accused of committing sexual offences against a 13-year-old American girl on May 22.
Yondem is accused of indecently assaulting the minor, while police allege that Isik aided and abetted him in committing the offence.
Both men denied the allegations through their interpreter before Magistrate Kendra Kelly on Friday.
When the question of bail was brought up, the crown prosecutor objected to the men’s release, arguing they posed as a potential flight risk.
However, their attorney, Raymond Rolle told the court his clients were employed by a construction company contracted to build the new US embassy building.
He said the men could not leave the country until construction work was completed as part of their contractual agreement.
He also revealed one of the accused’s passports was being held by embassy officials for visa application purposes.
A spokesperson for the construction company confirmed this during Friday’s proceedings.
He said while the men will remain as employees, they will not be allowed to work on the building and will be closely monitored.
As a result, both men were granted $9,000 bail with one or two sureties. They were also ordered to be outfitted with ankle monitoring devices with geographic locations limited to New Providence. The men must also surrender their travel documents and report to the Central Police Station once a week.
Magistrate Kelly warned failure to comply with these conditions would result in their bail being revoked.
The men will return to court on July 6.
Commenting has been disabled for this item.