A former police officer-turned-taxi driver, was granted $30,000 bail when he appeared in the District ‘A’ Magistrate’s Court on fraud charges today.
It is alleged Denoredo Dajoephie Denore Mundle, of Austin Drive, Eden Lodge, St Michael with intent to defraud, endeavoured to obtain from CIBC First Caribbean International Bank Limited, on August 21, $76,280. 22 and $94, 820.55 via two forged cheques made payable to him and drawn from the account of W.H. Bryan Limited.
Mundle was not required to plead to the indictable charges when he appeared before Magistrate Douglas Frederick with his attorney Naomi Lynton.
Prosecutor Sergeant Rudy Pilgrim objected to bail on the grounds that investigations were not yet completed with detectives still looking for other individuals, and there were suggestions that Mundle might interfere in the course of justice. The prosecution also pointed to the “potency” of the evidence against the accused.
Mundle was a former police officer who would have been involved in investigations of this nature and could “influence or coerce” the situation if granted bail, the prosecutor contended. He also submitted that the accused as a flight risk.
But defence attorney Lynton argued that her client was a fit and proper candidate for bail given that he had no prior convictions and was not currently on bail. She further submitted that he was not a flight risk although he was Jamaican by birth.
“He has been here since he was five years old and is 30 years old now. He doesn’t have a passport, be it Barbadian or Jamaican. He was a police officer for four years and left in 2013 and has been working as a taxi man and valet on the West Coast,” Lynton added.
The Bail Act did not specify ongoing investigations and search for individuals as reasons for withdrawing bail, as the Crown contended, she told the magistrate.
“He is not on bail, has no [prior convictions], had nothing to support that he will abscond if granted bail. It is inflammatory; a red herring…. to make it more dramatic than it needs to be. I don’t see the connection to the charges with him being a former police officer which should disturb his right to bail . . . he is an extremely fit candidate for bail,” Lynton added.
Magistrate Frederick ruled in favour of the accused man and granted him bail, which he secured with two sureties.
But Mundle must now report to Central Police Station every Wednesday before 10 a.m. with valid identification. He is barred from applying for a passport and cannot travel without a court order.
The accused fraudster who is to make his next appearance in court on December 5 has also been warned not to approach any witnesses in the case.
The post Ex-cop on bail over fraud charges appeared first on Barbados Today.
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