Francis, 35, a USVI national and resident of Anegada; along with Benti, 34, of Long Bay, West End, were initially charged with aggravated burglary but this was later changed to attempted murder. Photo: VINO/File

Francis, 35, a USVI national and resident of Anegada; along with Benti, 34, of Long Bay, West End, were initially charged with aggravated burglary but this was later changed to attempted murder.

Attorney at law Anthea Smith, who represented Fancis in the matter, said her client has since not received disclosure of the court documents even though this was promised some time ago.

Francis was initially arrested on October 6, 2012 for the offence of aggravated burglary which was later withdrawn and changed to attempted murder.

The duo previously appeared before the Magistrate’s court on October 11, 2012 when Crown Counsel Leslie Ann Faulkner had then told the court that Francis allegedly entered a house in Anegada and attempted to murder Marcos Huggins.

Benti indicated that he was now representing himself in the matter.

The date for the preliminary inquiry has now been set for September 12, 2013.

See previous story posted November 29, 2012:

Man accused of attempted murder in Anegada

- fails to secure freedom despite reduced bail application

ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – Kenny Francis, 34, was remanded to prison once more after his lawyer’s application for a bail variation before the Magistrate’s court failed to secure his freedom on November 29, 2012.

Mr Francis, a USVI national, was arrested initially on the charge of aggravated burglary but this was subsequently changed to attempted murder along with his co-accused Kasim Benti. Benti’s lawyer, Patrick Thompson, was able to have a $25,000 cash component of a $100,000 bail revoked on October 22, 2012 after an appeal was made before the High Court.

Senior Crown Counsel Sarah Benjamin related that disclosure had already been made in the matter after which Mr. Francis’ attorney, Coreen George then made an oral application before Magistrate Tamia Richards for a variation of bail following a written application made on October 24, 2012. The cash component of his $100,000 bail agreement was set at $40,000.

Senior Magistrate Richards indicated that she was not inclined to allow any bail conditions without a cash component but offered to consider the application that was made.

Documents were presented to the Magistrate which indicated that the defendant’s family could offer surety in the form of property which was valued in the region of $1,000,000. Upon reviewing these, Magistrate Richards offered that a loan application could be made before the bank for the cash component to be raised based on the value of the property. Ms Benjamin agreed that the property had enough equity to raise the cash component of the bail conditions.

The issue of a paper committal was discussed and both Ms George and Ms Benjamin offered no objection to the proposal but Mr Thompson’s position could not be ascertained on the issue as he was not present at the time the matter came before the court.

Magistrate Richards ruled that she was not satisfied that the cash component could not be raised and said the bail conditions were and remained reasonable and therefore denied the application for a bail variation.

Francis was arrested on October 6, 2012 for the offence of aggravated burglary which was later withdrawn and changed to attempted murder. The duo previously appeared before the Magistrate’s court on October 11, 2012 when Crown Counsel Leslie Ann Faulkner had then told the court that Francis entered a house in Anegada and attempted to murder Marcos Huggins.

The matter will be heard again on January 21, 2013.