Suspected pedophile Matthew Gibbs, 37, was charged before Magistrate Marilyn Meeres with having unnatural sex with a 14-year-old boy on June 23, 2005.
Gibbs was not required to enter a plea and was ordered to return to court on April 26 for a preliminary inquiry.
Gibbs’ attorney, Cecil Hilton, pleaded with Magistrate Meeres to grant his client bail, on the basis of the length of time between the arraignment and the start of the inquiry.
The prosecution objected to bail, arguing that Gibbs would be a flight risk.
However, the prosecutor suggested that if Gibbs was granted bail he should be ordered to report to police weekly.
After lengthy consideration, Magistrate Meeres granted Gibbs $10,000 bail with two sureties.
She also ordered Gibbs to surrender his travel documents to the court and report to the Wulff Road police station every Friday before 6pm, until he returns to court in April.
Gibbs was ordered to avoid all contact with his alleged victim.
The Defence Force marine of nine years arrived at the Bank Lane court in an unmarked police car with several armed guards. He was led to court in handcuffs.
After the arraignment he was led away for his bail to be arranged.
By: Stephen Gay, The Bahama Journal
