Woman on murder charge offered $1m bail

WESTERN BUREAU:

Sudeen Hylton, the St James woman who is charged with murder in relation to the August 12 shooting of Richard Baker in the Glendevon community, was last week offered bail in the sum of $1 million during her first appearance before the St James Parish Court.

The 30-year-old Hylton, of a Hendon, Norwood address, was remanded until October 21 following her bail hearing, which was held before Presiding Parish Judge Sandria Wong-Small.

Attorney-at-law Michael Hemmings, who represented Hylton during the hearing, gave The Gleaner a brief synopsis of his client’s bail conditions ahead of her next court date.

“As part of her bail conditions, Hylton is to relocate elsewhere and report daily to the police. A curfew order has been put in place for her, and a stop order has been put in place at all ports of entry,” said Hemmings.

The bail application was granted despite the prosecution’s concerns that Hylton was a potential flight risk, on the grounds that she reportedly disobeyed the police’s instructions to stop during a vehicular chase from the scene where the shooting took place.

Additionally, several reports are outstanding from the prosecution’s case file, including a report from the Communication Forensics and Cybercrime Division, the post-mortem report, and the forensic certificate.

Shot multiple times

According to the allegations, on August 12, Baker was driving along the Salt Spring main road when he stopped to check something on his vehicle. A white Toyota Axio motor car drove up beside him and the occupants fired several shots at him, hitting him multiple times.

Baker managed to drive away from the scene and almost immediately encountered a police patrol. He related to them what had happened and pointed them in the direction of the getaway car. He was rushed to the Cornwall Regional Hospital, where he died while undergoing treatment.

It is further alleged that acting on the information provided by Baker, the police pursued the shooters’ vehicle and eventually caught up to the Axio near Sam Sharpe Square, where Hylton was discovered to be the driver. She was arrested and later questioned in the presence of her attorney, following which she was charged.

Hylton’s arrest last month brought to the forefront the issue of women being directly involved in shootings and murders. While law enforcement has in the past acknowledged women’s involvement in crime, in terms of aiding and abetting gangsters in their illegal enterprises, there have been no known cases of gunwomen.

In the aftermath of Hylton’s arrest, former top crime-fighter Clive ‘Karate Georgie’ Lawrence, whose encounters with criminals have been the stuff of legend in western Jamaica, said he had never encountered gun-toting women in his career.

“I have no personal experience of tangling with any so-called ‘gunwomen’ in all my days. I have heard of them, but I have never had that experience personally,” Lawrence said at the time.