SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine - Two brothers, facing charges of kidnapping and were left to languish in police lock-up for a year without having their case tried in court, laughed heartily when they were offered bail in the Spanish Town criminal court on Tuesday.

The two - 26-year-old electrician Wayne Price, and his brother Clifford of 28 Anthony Lane, Old Harbour, St Catherine - were arrested in December 2006 and charged jointly with kidnapping, extortion, conspiracy, illegal possession of firearm, shooting with intent and robbery.

Senior St Catherine resident magistrate (RM) Lorna Errar, wasted no time after an impassioned bail application from defence attorney Michael Lorne, in quickly offering them bail.

"Bail in the sum of $100,000 each with surety. You are to surrender your travel documents to the police and you will come back here on March 4," Errar instructed.

Allegations are that in September 2006, a woman was walking along Trafalgar Street, Linstead, when three men forced her into a white car, called her boyfriend and demanded $200,000 for her release. Hours later they also kidnapped the boyfriend, blindfolded them both and drove them around Linstead for over an hour.

Police alleged that the kidnappers forced their victims to call persons in the United States for money. The girl managed to free herself and escaped. Her boyfriend was held for three days before he also escaped.

The four were held in December and after a series of identification parades, were pointed out, arrested and charged.

However, when the case returned to court before RM Errar in May, 2007, it was placed at a standstill as the police were unable to complete the US leg of their investigations.

But Errar was not satisfied with the explanation and scolded them for failing to send investigators to the US to interview witnesses in the case. She spoke sharply to the investigating officer, a detective inspector from the Organised Crime Investigating Division (OCID), arguing that the police was wasting the court's time if they were unable to secure the necessary funds to travel to the US, interview witnesses and complete the case file.

The RM's outburst was sparked by a comment from the inspector of a delay in completing travel arrangements to interview witnesses in the US as he was still awaiting funds.

In applying for bail, the accused attorney argued that it was not justice to keep his clients, whom he said were innocent of the charge, in jail for over one year, submitting that it was an injustice on the part of the Crown.

"Your honour, it is no fault of our own that the Crown is not ready. I would urge you to consider the length of time they are in jail. As I understand it, we are nowhere nearer to starting the case than we were more than a year ago," Lorne submitted.

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