Spanish Town kidnapping accused granted bail for $750,000

Jamaica: An accused man, who was held by the police department in the last year case of kidnapping and assault with other offences on a businessman in Spanish Town, was granted bail by the Gun Court. The man was taken under custody with five other accused men, among whom he appeared for a hearing on Monday 29 April, and got bail against the surety for seven and fifty thousand dollars in total.

The accused man of kidnapping and assault on a business is identified in the reports, as per which he is a 43-year-old man known by the documented name of Ricardo Henry. Ricardo Henry is a resident of Spanish Town, a city located in the Saint Catherine parish.

As per the reports, the criminal act of the Spanish Town kidnapping and assault against the victim businessman was recorded last year, on 28 December 2023. The incident took place in the Tawas Pen locality in the Spanish Town city of Saint Catherine, a parish of Jamaica in the southeastern part of the island.

It is mentioned that the case on the accused is of a previous year’s offence which he committed with his other five mates. The accusation is that the six accused men initially ambushed the victim businessman in the locality and assaulted him physically. It is said that the suspects started beating him while accusing the businessman of being a thief.

Subsequently, after the physical assault, the six suspects kidnapped the businessman from the place with the intention of extracting money. Afterwards, while working in the way of their intentions, the suspects raised a demand of a hundred thousand dollars from the family of the victim against the condition of releasing him.

The police department got involved in the case in response to the resort of kidnapping in Spanish Town. The assigned team of police officers launched an operation against the suspects to save the businessman. The operation by the police department led to a shooting in the process which took the life of one individual which six were held by the officers on duty.

Reportedly, the victim businessman was rescued safely by the police officers, while the suspects were taken into custody. In the operation, a total of six individuals were held by the police officers including Ricardo Henry. The other suspects were identified as Joan Borel, Damion Ferguson, Norman Davis and Andrew Williams, where the sixth accused was a 17-year-old teenage schoolboy.

The accused, Ricardo Henry, was charged with the committed offences including possessing an illegal weapon, using an illegal weapon to commit a felony, demanding money by menace, and kidnapping. Under the same charges, the accused was taken to court and the hearing was conducted in front of the judge.

After hearing the arguments, the master of the court granted bail to the suspect of a total amount of seven and fifty thousand dollars in surety. Some conditions were also raised on him which says that the accused must report three times a week to the Spanish Town Police Station. He also needs to surrender his travel documents.

The accused is ordered to reappear in the court for further proceedings which is scheduled on Monday, 1 July. Except for Ricardo Henry, the three other involved suspects, Damion Ferguson, Joan Borel and a teenager schoolboy are already granted bail by the court while the other two, Norman Davis and Andrew Williams are still under remand.