Vincentian men still in custody in BVI

Boat captain Lee Martin and Mitchell Warren, who are charged with possession of a prohibited weapon and possession of explosives in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), have opted to contest the charges.

The two residents of St Vincent and the Grenadnes pleaded not guilty to the gun and ammo charges when they appeared before magistrate Ayanna Baptiste-DaBreo recently.

They are now slated to stand trial on June 12.

In the meantime, the two accused are still on remand, though they were offered bail by magistrate Baptiste-DaBreo during their first court appearance last month.

At the time, Baptiste-DaBreo offered each of the men $60,000 bail. She, however, ordered each of them to pay, in cash, $10,000 of their respective fines.

The court was told that the men have not taken up the bail offer, because they have not satisfied all of the bail conditions. The bail offer still stands.

Allegations are that members of the BVI Customs Department and the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force found an assault rifle and bullets aboard a vessel known as Tenacity.

They made the find during a search of the vessel, while it was docked at Port Purcell in Tortola. Martin is the boat captain, the court heard.

According to senior Crown counsel Leslie-Ann Faulkner, the weapon was discovered in the cargo area of the vessel, which is from St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The prosecuting attorney said both Warren, who is 43 and 66-year-old Martin denied knowledge of the weapon during separate police interviews.

Martin is being represented by attorney Valerie Stephens-Gordon, while Warren is now being represented by Michael Maduro.