JAMES Rogers, 18, who is charged alongside former deacon of the Church Dayton Diamond Ridge, 46-year-old Donovan Jones, for the alleged sexual assault of a 13-year old girl in the back of a van during April, was yesterday granted $500,000 bail when he appeared in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate’s Court.

Rogers was accused of video-taping the alleged sexual abuse of the girl.

Appearing before Magistrate Desiree Alleyne, Rogers – a Haitian national – was ordered to surrender all his travel documents and his birth certificate, while a stop order was put into effect for him at all the country’s ports of entry.

Rogers was also ordered to report to the Half-Way-Tree Police Station every day between the hours of 8:00 am and 8:00 pm.

As a special bail condition Rogers was ordered to avoid all contact with Jones and his family.

At the same time, Jones was further remanded into custody by RM Alleyne, until September 8, when the matter is expected to go to trial.

Jones’ attorney Paul Beswick indicated to the court that he may apply to have the matter taken before the Home Circuit Court where he would continue his bail application for Jones.

Jones and Morgan are both facing nine counts of indecent assault, three counts of assault with intent to rape, one count of aiding and abetting indecent assault, one count of carnal abuse and aiding and abetting carnal abuse, while a further charge of cruelty to a child was slapped on Jones.

Last Friday, two other young men, Shamar Morgan, 18, and a 14-year-old minor, who were initially charged alongside Jones and Rogers for sexually assaulting the 13-year-old girl, both pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault.

They are scheduled to be sentenced on September 8.

In the meantime, one of the investigating officers in the matter, Detective Corporal Claudette Hepburn of the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA), told the Observer that the 13-year-old girl was making a slow but steady recovery from the trauma of the incident.

“She is coping, and doing well but sometimes I have to try to understand her wounds.. There are days when she comes and says nothing and there are days when she comes and gives us a page. The investigations are still ongoing,” said the police corporal.