$50,000 bail for jailed mom

Kezi Doughty, the pregnant mother of nine who appealed a five-month jail sentence for child abandonment, has been granted $50,000 bail. However, she remains in jail as relatives were unable to post it. So said Doughty’s lawyer, Peter Taylor, who is representing her pro-bono (free).

Taylor said yesterday he filed an appeal on Doughty’s behalf on Monday, four days after San Fernando magistrate Alicia Chankar sentenced her to five months’ jail for abandoning her children, aged eight, seven, three, two and five months. Taylor said the bail was approved by a Clerk of the Peace. However, he was unsure whether any of Doughty’s relatives will take her bail. He also said he planned to visit Doughty in prison to interview her.

“I am grateful she has been granted bail. It means that she can be released pending the hearing of her appeal,” he added. Doughty was jailed last week Thursday on charges that on June 10 last year, being a parent in charge of five children, she wilfully abandoned them to cause injury to their health. Doughty’s children were placed in the custody of the State.