18 year old Damiel Belfon who was arrested on an indictable Non-Capital Murder charge in connection with the country’s second homicide for the year has been granted bail in the sum of $50, 000.00, with two (2) sureties, following his unopposed bail application before a High Court Judge in St. George’s on Tuesday.
According to his Attorney, American-trained Jerry Edwin, based on the circumstances of the case, Senior Crown Counsel, Howard Pinnock, who represented the Crown at the bail hearing, before No. 2 High Court Judge, Madam Justice Victoria Charles-Clarke, did not object to bail being granted to his client, who has no prior antecedents.
Having considered the application, Madam Justice Charles-Clarke granted the request, and instructed the 18 year old murder suspect to report to the Grenville Police Station twice weekly, and surrender all his travel documents forthwith.
The life of the Sendall Street, Grenville, St. Andrew resident took a different turn after he reportedly stabbed a fellow villager, 18 year old Guyanese national Dominic Fields in the neck, during an altercation that occurred around 8:30 p.m. in the drug-infested gambling Trench Town area on March 05.
In an interview following his client’s first court appearance before Magistrate Nevlyn John at the Grenville Magistrate’s Court, Attorney Edwin had expressed his intention to “immediately” apply for bail in the High Court, as the Magistrate’s Court does not have jurisdiction to grant bail for indictable crimes.
Edwin also contended that his client who was reportedly accosted by the deceased and an accomplice had “acted in self-defense.”
“We are saying his actions were justified as a result of acting in self-defense (and) we think a jury of his peers, should it come to that would find that he is not guilty of Non-Capital murder (as) murder is an intentional crime…,” Attorney Edwin said in an interview with reporters.
The matter has been adjourned to April 19 but will be heard before Magistrate Francine Foster, who is now presiding over the Grenville Magistrate’s Court replacing Magistrate Nevlyn John, who has been transferred to preside over the Victoria and Sauteurs Magistrate’s Court, where Magistrate Foster was sitting.
Attorney Edwin confirmed to THE NEW TODAY on Thursday that he will be requesting a paper committal for his client, which is a procedure for indictable offenses, in which the defendant where represented, consents to all evidence being tendered to the magistrate in the form of written statements.
Under the system, the magistrate is not required to make an assessment of the evidence but automatically commits the defendant to the high court for trial.