Former Minister of Housing and the Environment Kenred Dorsett was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services after being hauled before the courts with hands cuffed behind his back.

Hours after being arrested and charged with extorting almost $120,000 from Jonathon Ash, Dorsett entered the Magistrate’s Court appearing before Magistrate Samuel McKinney, and also charged with accepting bribes in the same amount from Mr. Ash.

Charged with four counts each of extortion and bribery, it is alleged that between March 1, 2017 and May 9, 2017 the former Southern Shores Member of Parliament, extorted from Mr. Ash while in New Providence at the Sanitary Landfill.

It is also alleged that Dorsett accepted bribes in the same amount from Mr. Ash

Further, Dorsett was also charged with one count of misconduct in public office, during the same timeframe, while acting willfully conducted himself without reasonable excuse of justification.

After reading the charges, Magistrate McKinney explained to Dorsett that the extortion charges were not indictable however the bribery charges were an indictable offense and could only be heard in the Supreme Court.

Dorsett pleaded not guilty to all the charges. However, due to the nature of the charges when it came time for the question of bail, Magistrate McKinney said he could not grant bail, but informed Dorsett that he could apply to the Supreme Court for the same.

Before giving the date to return to court, attorney for Dorsett, Wayne Munroe, QC, noted that the charges were an abuse of process as it seemed as though Dorsett’s charges were duplicated.

Magistrate McKinney noted the point raised by Mr. Munroe.

Dorsett was subsequently remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services and is scheduled to return to court on August 31.

After leaving the courtroom, Mr. Munroe spoke with reporters and confirmed that his legal team would make application to Supreme Court for bail as the director of public prosecutions (DPP) had given them consent prior to them appearing in the Magistrate’s Court to seek bail.

“The DPP has sensibly and decently said that we could arrange there an application. They would entertain sending a prosecutor down and the aim is to try and do that this afternoon, if not this afternoon, in the morning,” Mr. Munroe said.

“That’s the immediate next step.”

Mr. Munroe further indicated that there would be some action taken towards the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the officers involved in questioning Dorsett.

“There will be a step of bringing action against the police for the detention of private property, breach of privacy and I’ll have to take instructions on whether we make complaints to the OAS body about this event that has just happened,” Mr. Munroe said.

According to Mr. Munroe, application for bail will be heard today at 1 p.m.