Derek Achong

A 15-year-old boy, of Beetham Gar­dens, yes­ter­day was grant­ed $20,000 bail af­ter ap­pear­ing in the Port-of-Spain Mag­is­trates' Court with a rel­a­tive charged with be­ing gang mem­bers.A Las Cuevas man, who sur­ren­dered to po­lice on Sat­ur­day, and a Beetham Gar­dens man, who was ar­rest­ed by po­lice while va­ca­tion­ing in To­ba­go, were al­so among per­sons charged yes­ter­day as be­ing gang mem­bers.Ken­neth "Span­ish" Ro­driguez, 34, of 24th Street, Beetham Gar­dens, Port-of-Spain, and the 15-year old both en­tered not guilty pleas when they ap­peared be­fore Chief Mag­is­trate Mar­cia Ay­ers-Cae­sar.It is al­leged that both are mem­bers of the "Beetham Gang".Po­lice pros­e­cu­tor, Sgt Wen­dell Lu­cas, did not ob­ject to bail for the boy, a pupil of the Hype Tech­ni­cal Trade School, Beetham Gar­dens.The boy, who is bare­ly over five feet tall, stood mo­tion­less as the charge was read and the con­di­tions of his bail were or­dered by Ay­ers-Cae­sar.His step­moth­er, al­so of Beetham Gar­dens, stood as sure­ty for his bail and Ay­ers-Cae­sar or­dered him to re­port to the Besson Street Po­lice Sta­tion twice a week.Ro­driguez and the boy were ar­rest­ed last Mon­day dur­ing a po­lice ex­er­cise near their home. Ro­driguez was re­mand­ed in­to cus­tody.Ro­driguez and the boy were rep­re­sent­ed by at­tor­neys Wayne Sturge and Criston J Williams.

Un­der the Bail (Amend­ment) Act 2011, per­sons over the age of 18 charged un­der the An­ti-Gang Act are not al­lowed bail for 120 days.Pro­vid­ing no ev­i­dence is ten­dered in court per­tain­ing to their charge, they may ap­ply to a judge in cham­bers for bail at the end of that pe­ri­od. Mean­while, Cas­sius "Cass" Williams, 26, al­so of Beetham Gar­dens, al­so ap­peared be­fore Ay­ers-Cae­sar charged with be­ing a mem­ber of the "Beetham Gang".Williams ar­rived at the Pi­ar­co In­ter­na­tion­al Air­port late Mon­day evening, es­cort­ed by of­fi­cers of the To­ba­go Po­lice Di­vi­sion.Williams was ar­rest­ed, four days af­ter the an­nounce­ment of a state of emer­gency on Au­gust 21, by of­fi­cers who claimed he had been hid­ing in To­ba­go.Williams was rep­re­sent­ed by at­tor­ney Patrick God­son-Phillip.Vaughn "Sand­man" Meires, 43, of Las Cuevas, al­so en­tered a not guilty plea when he ap­peared be­fore Ay­ers-Cae­sar.Meires' lawyer, Mario Mer­ritt, claimed his client's fam­i­ly home was abused and ran­sacked by sol­diers who con­duct­ed search­es last week.