No bail for soldier charged with biting policeman

A 28-year-old soldier who allegedly bit a police officer during a dispute over the weekend was on Monday refused bail when he and his cousin appeared in the Siparia Magistrates’ Court on nine charges. Videsh Sookoo, of Main Road, Todd’s Road, and his cousin Hemraj Gopaul, 21, of Quarry Village, Siparia, stood before Siparia First Court Magistrate Joanne Connor, charged with committing the offences on August 21, 2011. The men, both of whom were represented by attorney Ramnarine Soorjansingh, have been charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on Khemnath Lalla, 55, and two counts of assaulting PC Sookoo and PC Allah to prevent lawful apprehension, and two counts of resisting arrest.

The cousins were also charged with two counts of malicious damage to government property, namely two police shirts. They pleaded not guilty. Sookoo was charged separately with using obscene language. He pleaded not guilty. All charges were laid by Sgt Sheldon Ablacksingh. Soorjansingh applied for bail. However, court prosecutor Sgt Angus Harry objected. He said Lalla, of Ackaloo Trace, was warded at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital in an unsatisfactory condition and it was on these grounds that he objected to bail. Connor refused the men bail and remanded them into custody. They will reappear in court on September 5.

According to police reports, Sooklal and Allah responded to a report around 1 am at Pluck Road, San Francique. When they arrived, they found Lalla lying unconscious on the roadway with injuries to the head. He was bleeding from the ears. Sookoo and Gopaul were approached. The officers attempted to arrest the men. Allah was allegedly bitten on the thumb while Sooklal allegedly received injuries to his hands.