The Court of Appeal will decide next week Tuesday whether to grant bail to businessman accused of trafficking two minor Venezuelan sex slaves.
Appellate judges Alice Yorke-Soo Hon, Mark Mohammed and Prakash Moosai reserved their decision on bail for Chang Bao Wang, a Chinese national, after hearing submissions from his attorneys and prosecutors from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain on Tuesday.
In the appeal, Wang was challenging the decision of Master Shabiki Cazabon to deny his bail application earlier this month.
Wang was forced to apply to Cazabon as he was also denied bail during his first court appearance before Magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine in the Port-of-Spain Magistrate’s Court on April 1.
Presenting submissions on behalf of Wang, his lawyer Christophe Rodriguez claimed that Cazabon made an error when she deemed him a flight risk based on the serious nature of the charges he was facing.
“The Master has lowered the threshold in a manner that no applicant can cross,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez also contended that the Master did not properly consider his client’s ties to T&T, which included his business interests and the fact that he was married to a Trinidadian woman, who was seated in the court. Rodriguez also noted that Wang was living in the country legally for over a decade before he was eventually charged with the crime.
He urged the court to consider the fact that denying Wang bail would mean that he would have to spend several years in prison before he eventually goes on trial.
“Matters take long in our courts,” Rodriguez said.
In response, Assistant DPP Tricia Hudlin-Cooper maintained that Cazabon made the correct decision as she denied that the case would be protracted and suggested that paper committal proceedings could be completed within one months’ time.
Wang and his compatriot Wei Liang Wu are accused of harbouring two Venezuelan minors for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Wu was also denied bail but did not challenge the decision.
Under the Trafficking In Persons Act, a person convicted of committing the offence against an adult faces a minimum fine of $500,000 and no less 15 years in prison. Those who target minors are liable to a minimum $1 million fine and no less than 20 years in prison upon conviction.
Wang and Wu are among a group of Chinese nationals to be charged over the multi-national prostitution ring, which was busted under the supervision of Police Commissioner Gary Griffith, earlier this year.
On February 5, a team of police officers from several specialist units raided private properties and businesses in Westmoorings, Woodbrook and Curepe.
One month later, Chinese-born Guyanese national Jinfu Zhu and his 23-year-old Venezuelan girlfriend Solient Torres were charged with 43 offences pertaining to the raid.
The couple was jointly charged with 22 charges under the Sexual Offences Act for operating a brothel at Zhu’s rented home in Westmoorings on specific dates between September 17, last year and January 1, this year.
Torres was slapped with 20 additional charges for aiding and abetting prostitution between September, last year and February, this year.
They were also jointly charged under the Proceeds of Crime Act for being in possession of TT$80,000, US$2,393 and other small amounts of assorted currency, knowing that the funds were the proceeds of crime.
Zhu and Torres have also been denied bail.
Wang is also being represented by Peter Taylor.