A teenager from Carapo, Arima, was yesterday denied bail after appearing in court alongside her two neighbours charged with attempting to smuggle a large quantity of marijuana into the Frederick Street prison on Thursday.
Kissondaye Mahabir, 48, her 28-year-old daughter, Cindy Kanhai, and the teenage mother, who can not be named as she is still considered a minor in law, all pleaded not guilty to marijuana trafficking when they appeared before Magistrate Sharon Gibson in the Port-of-Spain Four A Court yesterday morning.
Mahabir and Khania were each released on $75,000 bail. However, Gibson was forced to adjourn the teenager's bail application to this morning as there was an issue in determining her exact age.
While the police claimed the woman told them she was 18 when she was arrested, her father who was in court yesterday claimed that she was a year younger.
Neither party could produce any of the woman's identification documents to clarify the issue, so Gibson put the case off to this morning for them to provide proof of her age.
Although the teenager's father agreed to be her surety when bail is eventually granted he expressed concerns over his ability to ensure that his daughter attended her court hearings once released.
Stating his daughter spent two years at the St Jude School for Girls in Belmont after her family had repeated issues with her behaviour, the father said: "She very hard to control sometimes."
In addition to the father's concerns, Gibson also took note of the fact that the teenager was allowed to make visits to the prison.
While it was revealed in court that the teen and her two fellow accused were visiting her husband, who is remand at the facility on a murder conspiracy charge, Gibson maintained that minors were not allowed in the facility.
"I wonder if she is lying to the prison officers about her age to get access into the prison. How at only 16 years old you have so much going on in your life? You are married, you have a child, you have a husband who is incarcerated and now you find yourself before the court on a charge of possession of marijuana for trafficking," Gibson said.
Relatives of the two women released on bail clashed with media photographers who were camped outside the St Vincent Street courthouse.
The media personnel were rescued by Court and Process Branch officers who forced the relatives, who were cursing and hurling threats at the photographers, to disperse.
The trio were arrested at the Frederick Street prison on Thursday morning after prison officers allegedly found a quantity of marijuana hidden in the soles of a pair of flip-flops, which were due to be given to the teenager's husband together with a parcel of clothing.
The drugs weighed a total of 41 grammes. They are all said to be members of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen's Carapo outpost.
The trio are being represented by Criston J Williams and Abbigale Thomas and will reappear in court on September 3.