The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A MAN accused of shooting a woman during a robbery while wearing a court-ordered ankle monitor has been refused bail. The Supreme Court judge noted that the device’s own tracking data now forms part of the case against him.

Leander Bell was one of three men accused of gun crimes whom Justice Darron Ellis kept in custody in rulings dated November 9. Another, Larry Albury, is accused of having a 9mm pistol and 12 rounds of ammunition in the trunk of his car near a nightclub at 2am while he was on bail for two murders, one of them the killing of a 16-year-old boy.

Bell, 32, is charged with attempted murder, armed robbery and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life over an incident on April 5, 2025. Prosecutors say he was already on bail and wearing an electronic monitoring device at the time.

“The difficulty is that electronic monitoring is alleged to have been in operation when the present offences occurred,” Justice Ellis said, “and the monitoring record itself forms part of the prosecution case.”

According to the Crown, the monitor placed Bell near Third Street and Robinson Road at about 11am. It showed him stationary between 11.23am and 11.26am at a property on Robinson Road, east of the Mark A Turnquest MBA Business Centre and next to Ida Street. Detective Constable Thorn Farrington said footage from China Town Resources showed the complainant entering the parking lot at about 11.23am, followed by a red Jeep matching the vehicle used in the incident. A person in a red hoodie then allegedly tried to rob her before she entered the business.

Reneka Bain, described as Bell’s friend, allegedly said he called her that day. She said that at about 12.25pm he arrived at her yard in a heavily tinted red Nissan Jeep with no licence plate, handed her the keys and asked her to hold the vehicle.

Bell says police have the wrong man. He said the complainants described two masked attackers who were about five feet seven inches tall and dark-skinned. He is about six feet four inches tall and light-skinned. He also said no witness could identify the attackers and that searches of his home, yard and vehicles found nothing incriminating. He said he does not know his co-accused or the complainant, and that police returned a burgundy SUV after ruling it out as the suspect vehicle.

Justice Ellis said those points could prove important at trial. However, he said they did not defeat a case that relies on more than facial identification.

Bell told the court that being held in custody has left him unable to work and support his family, and that his fiancée needs dialysis treatment. The judge said her condition, if established, was a serious personal hardship, and he did not minimise it.

The judge also found unexplained inconsistencies in Bell’s own affidavits. The first said he lived alone and had a five-year-old son who visited from time to time. The second said that before his arrest he lived with his fiancée and “our very young children” and was the household’s main breadwinner. His first affidavit also referred to a bail refusal on September 16, 2024, over charges described in terms similar to the present ones, although the Crown says the offences happened in April 2025.

The judge did not accept everything the Crown said, either. Prosecutors said Bell’s five convictions showed a history of violence. These were abetment to unlawful sexual intercourse in 2017, and three stealing convictions and one for shopbreaking in 2018. Justice Ellis called that description overstated, noting that most were dishonesty or property offences. Bell says a pending armed robbery matter has been dismissed and that a pending murder matter is likely to be. He produced no proof of this, and the judge gave both matters limited weight.

The deciding factor, Justice Ellis said, was the claim that serious firearm offences were committed while Bell was on bail and being monitored. He said that raising the bail amount or requiring more frequent reporting would not address that risk. He cited the Court of Appeal’s ruling in the case of Trevar Taylor. In that case, the appeal court upheld a bail refusal for a man accused of armed robbery while he was on bail, and wearing a monitor, for murder and attempted murder.

When Bell and Deon Scavella were arraigned in April 2025, prosecutors alleged that the two men shot and injured Dianzhi Li with a 9mm pistol and stole $8,000 in cash and an $800 iPhone. Bell’s application was a renewed one. Justice Ellis found that the new material did not amount to a material change in circumstances.

Albury, 33, of Marathon Estates, is charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of ammunition. Police said they were told that a man fitting his description had a gun and had put it in the trunk of his vehicle near Tipsy’s Club, at Cordeaux Avenue and Baillou Hill Road, on May 11. Officers said Albury refused to hand over a key. Because the car’s rear quarter glass was broken, they got in through that opening and searched the vehicle in front of him. They said they found a black Taurus 9mm pistol and 12 live rounds in the trunk.

Albury denies the charges. He said he was employed by Pitch to Perfection Roofing Services and Repairs before his arrest, and he denies being a gang member. He admitted he was on bail for two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder at the time. He said he had complied with all his bail conditions and expects to be exonerated.

Prosecutors allege that Albury and accomplices shot 16-year-old Junior Rostand and Joshua Adderley outside an apartment at Akel Close, Montell Heights, at about 9pm on March 18, 2023. Rostand died and Adderley survived. Minutes later, prosecutors say, Albury shot dead Renaldo Williams and tried to kill Thorne Moss outside a home on Samson Street.

Justice Ellis said the gun was not found on Albury’s person and that the broken glass was something the trial court may have to consider. Even so, he found substantial grounds to believe Albury would offend again if released.

“It does not depend upon a prediction that he would commit murder, attempted murder or any particular act of violence,” the judge said of that risk. He said it concerned further unlawful firearm possession.

He considered electronic monitoring, a strict overnight curfew and a ban on visiting clubs. He found that these would still leave Albury’s possible access to a gun largely unaddressed during the movements he would be allowed, including going to work. Albury has no previous convictions, and the judge gave no material weight to a 2017 stealing charge on his record. His trial is set for the first quarter of 2027.

Neville Knowles, 36, also known as Neville Richardson, of Hospital Lane South, is charged with attempted murder. He is accused of shooting Ronal Aime in the Fleming Street area on May 3, 2026.

According to the Crown, Mr Aime said Knowles arrived as the passenger in a red or orange Nissan Cube driven by a woman known as Vona. Mr Aime said Knowles confronted him over an accusation involving a man known as “Shaggy”. He then produced a gun fitted with what Mr Aime described as a silencer, fired two shots that hit him in the upper thigh, and drove off. When Knowles was arraigned in May, prosecutors said the two men had argued over money in a gambling dispute.

Knowles, who said he worked in the maintenance department at Bahamas Power and Light, argued that the case was weak because he was not picked out at an identification parade. Justice Ellis disagreed. Mr Aime said he already knew Knowles by name and by the alias “Sticka”, and later picked out his photograph from 12 in a photo line-up. The judge said this made the case one of recognising a known person rather than identifying a stranger.

Knowles admits a 2015 armed robbery conviction. His record also shows a December 2015 conviction for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, and July 2017 convictions for possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition. The judge said there was no evidence that Mr Aime had been threatened since the shooting, but that the nature of the alleged attack was relevant to his safety. He also said electronic monitoring could not necessarily stop a violent offence from being committed. No trial date has been confirmed.

In all three cases, Justice Ellis found no evidence that the men would abscond or interfere with witnesses. He refused bail because of the risk that they would offend again. Each man may appeal to the Court of Appeal or apply again if his circumstances change materially.

Bjorn Ferguson represented Albury, David Cash represented Knowles and Ian Jupp represented Bell. Tenielle Brown and Erica Ingraham appeared for the Crown in the Albury and Knowles matters, and Tylah Murray in Bell’s.