A 24-year-old man from Point Fortin has been freed of assault by beating after he was accused of an allegedly random physical attack on a 10-year-old schoolgirl.
Peter Bharat was freed after Senior Magistrate Alicia Chankar upheld a no-case submission by his attorney Gerald Ramdeen, yesterday.
According to the evidence in the case, Bharat was accused of assaulting the pupil of the Fanny Village Government Primary School on February 12, last year.
The victim, who cannot be identified because she is a minor, claimed that she was walking along the pavement when a black van pulled alongside her.
She claimed that Bharat, who was in the van, said “come here little girl” and grabbed the sleeve of her shirt.
The child pulled away and ran home to report the incident to her mother.
When Bharat was arrested by police he denied any wrongdoing.
He claimed that he was driving in the area and noticed that the victim went to the same primary school he did based on her uniform.
He claimed that he wanted to ask her about his former teacher, who was due to retire that year, but she ran away after he asked her if she could speak with him for a minute.
In the no-case submission, Ramdeen claimed that the case against his client was physically impossible.
He noted that under cross-examination, the police officer, who took the child’s report, admitted he did not visit the location to verify her claims by taking measurements of the area.
Chankar upheld Ramdeen’s submission as she ruled that prosecutors did not satisfy their burden of proof.
When Bharat initially appeared before Chankar, last year, he was granted $75,000 bail.
His relatives attempted to secure his bail with a certified cheque in the amount but were told that they had to provide information on the source of the funds.
The information was provided but the Registrar of the Point Fortin Magisterial District again refused and requested a deed for a property valued higher than the bail amount to approve Bharat’s bail.
Bharat filed a lawsuit over the issue claiming that the decisions of the registrar were in contravention of the Bail (Access to Bail) (Amendment) Act as his relatives had met the requisite bail conditions.
The lawsuit was eventually upheld by High Court Judge Frank Seepersad.