$125,000 bail for rape accused

A Chaguanas father, accused of raping a 15-year-old girl, yesterday was granted $125,000 bail on the condition he moved out of the district and had no contact with the victim or her mother. Bhola Mangalee, 45, of Enterprise, appeared before Chaguanas First Court magistrate, Gillian David- Scotland, charged with raping and indecently assaulting the teen. He was not called upon to plea to the indictable charges. Mangalee was arrested at his Enterprise home last Friday and subsequently charged by WPC Singh, of the Chaguanas Police Station.

Yesterday the magistrate read the charges to him that on July 19 at Enterprise, Chaguanas, he indecently assaulted the teen and had sexual intercourse with her. In his application for bail, Mangalee’s attorney, Sunil Seecharan, said he was a single parent of three children and had no pending matters or previous convictions. Court prosecutor Sgt Michael Jackman did not object to bail but asked the magistrate to be mindful of the seriousness of the offence and its prevalence. Seecharan said Mangalee had since moved out of the area and was staying at his brother’s home in Kelly Village, Caroni. Owing to the concern raised by the prosecutor, the magistrate ordered him to have no contact with the teen or her mother and to stay 100 metres away from them. She also ordered him not to reside in the Chaguanas district until the matter was completed. The magistrate granted him bail with a Clerk of the Peace’s approval. The matter was adjourned to August 17.