By PAVEL BAILEY
Tribune Staff Reporter
pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A MAN awaiting trial for firearm possession was once again denied bail by the Court of Appeals.
Recently retired Justice Jon Isaacs delivered the ruling in the bail appeal of Yewill Moretta, who faces charges of possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of ammunition.
Justice Isaacs noted that Moretta was initially charged on July 2, 2024, before Magistrate Lennox Coleby. Police allege that Moretta was found with a loaded 9mm pistol during a traffic stop.
As part of the conditions for his initial bail, Moretta was required to surrender his travel documents and wear a monitoring device. He reportedly turned in a Dominican Republic passport and a certificate of naturalisation, which was said to have been issued by the Department of Immigration.
However, while applying to have his monitoring device removed by the Supreme Court, Moretta presented a Bahamian passport. This raised concerns about the validity of his identification documents.
Moretta was subsequently arrested and had his bail revoked by the magistrate on September 26, 2024. A later appeal of the bail revocation was also denied by the Supreme Court.
An affidavit from Brent McNeil, of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), revealed that Moretta’s certificate of naturalization was fraudulent and had been used to obtain a Bahamian passport illegally. The certificate’s identification number was later found to belong to a Haitian woman.
The DPP determined that Moretta posed a significant flight risk.
In his ruling, Justice Isaacs found that the Supreme Court was correct in its decision to deny bail, given the evidence that Moretta had presented a fraudulent document. Justice Isaacs also ruled that Moretta failed to provide sufficient justification for overturning the Supreme Court’s decision.
As a result, Moretta’s latest bail application was dismissed, and he will remain on remand at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until his firearm trial is completed.
Geoffrey Farquharson represented the defendant.
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