By Bennette Roach
New charges resulting in the arrest of Attorney-at-Law David S. Brandt on Wednesday, November 21, 2018 were followed by his eventual release on bail in the amount of $90,000.
Brandt who was arrested and charged back in 2015 on September 21, with two counts of conspiracy to have sexual intercourse with a minor, has been fighting the decision for the matter to go to trial with the matter pending decisions in the appeal courts. He was released on $20, 000 bail in 2015.
According to information reportedly from Commissioner of Police Steve Foster, Brandt was arrested and charged with two (2) counts of child sexual exploitation and one (1) count of perverting the course of justice. No details have been forthcoming this early on these new charges and the date of their occurrence, with early speculations suggesting that these may be serving as a replacement for at least one of the earlier charges.
In carrying out Brandt’s new arrests the Royal Montserrat Police Services (RMPS) were assisted by The National Crime Agency based in the UK, who describe their role as being “to protect the public from the most serious threats by disrupting and bringing to justice those serious and organised criminals who present the highest risk to the UK.”
That contrasted the first information that the arrest was conducted by Scotland Yard police who ‘swooped in’ and arrested Brandt on Wednesday.
UK based attorney Annesta Weekes Q.C.
UK based attorney Annesta Weekes Q.C. who has for years now been the prosecuting attorney in ‘high profile’ cases in Montserrat is also the prosecutor in the Brandt affair. She is said to have assisted in the latest arrest, but further information says that she is in Montserrat to lead in the Brandt appeal of the earlier charges listed for hearing on Monday next week.
Reportedly there was some drama in court as the prosecution sought to refuse Brandt bail, claiming among other reasons that that the accused is a ‘flight risk.’ Brandt who has suffered some physical illness and disability, has only left Montserrat in many years for legal purposes or to receive medical attention.
