Policeman Shaundelle Euin and La Brea welder Gregory James, who are charged with the kidnapping of Natalie Pollonais, will know today whether they will be granted bail.
Euin, 24, who was last attached to the La Romaine Police Post and James, 50, were remanded into custody yesterday so their families could produce certain documents in order for them to be granted bail.
Euin, who has four years service and James, also known as Roger Duncan, appeared before Senior Magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine in the San Fernando First Court around 11.35 am. They were not called upon to plead to the charge, which alleged that on September 6 at SS Erin Road, Debe, they unlawfully, for ransom, seized and carried away Pollonais without her consent or without lawful excuse and held and prevented her from returning to her normal place of abode.
The charge was laid by Ag ASP Peter Ramdeen.
Asking that Euin is granted reasonable bail, attorney Carl Mattis said he had no previous convictions or pending matters. He said Euin was in a common-law relationship, has a one-year-old child and cares for his 13-year-old twin sisters. He said Euin has a passport but it has since expired.
Prosecutor Cleyon Seedan asked the magistrate to consider the seriousness of the offence. Seedan was also concerned that if the accused were granted bail they could hinder the ongoing investigation. Seedan also asked that Euin produce his passport in court or allow checks to be done at the Immigration Division to verify it had expired. Regarding James, Seedan produced a criminal record which listed three matters between 2013 and 2017—housebreaking and larceny, store breaking and larceny and warehouse and larceny—as pending. But James said those matters were dismissed.
James has to produce the court extracts to prove the matters were dismissed while Euin has to produce his passport before bail is granted.
Seedan asked that bail conditions, including that the men report to the police station and have no contact with the witnesses through social media or any third party, be set.
Earlier, Euin cursed and showed journalists his middle finger as he was being escorted from the San Fernando CID to the court. Pollonais, the wife of Jason Pollonais, a director of the South Oropouche-based Inland and Offshore Contractors Ltd (IOCL) went missing after she left C3 Centre, Ste Madeleine. On that night police found her BMW 5308 hybrid sedan abandoned in the parking lot of an HDC apartment building at Cypress Hills, Union Hall. The kidnappers contacted her family and demanded a ransom for her return. Pollonais was rescued on the night of September 10 after police intercepted a white Nissan AD Wagon along the Churchill Roosevelt Highway near Courts Mega Store.
Another suspect in the case, a contractor, is expected to make his first appearance in court today charged with the same crime. Up to yesterday afternoon, the other police officer held in connection with the abduction was still in custody and inquiries were ongoing.