DONOVAN Jones, the 47-year-old former deacon of the Church Dayton Diamond Ridge who is alleged to have supervised the repeated sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl by four youngsters in the back of a van, was yesterday granted bail in the Home Circuit Court, after spending more than two months in police custody.

Appearing before Justice Marva McIntosh, during in-camera proceedings, Jones was granted $400,000 bail and ordered to report to the Half-Way-Tree Police Station on weekdays during the hours of 6:00 am and 6:00 pm. As a special condition of his bail, Jones was ordered by the judge to avoid all contact with the witnesses to be called in the matter as well as the young girl involved.

Jones along with the three youngsters – James Rogers,18, Shamar Morgan, 18 and a 14-year-old juvenile – who are also out on bail, are all charged with indecent assault.

All four were also charged with three counts of assault with intent to rape, while Morgan and the 14-year-old were charged with assault occasioning bodily harm.

Jones and Rogers were additionally charged with one count of aiding and abetting indecent assault, and a further charge of cruelty to a child was also slapped on Deacon Jones.

In addition to those previous charges, all four were charged with carnal abuse, while Jones and Rogers were further charged with aiding and abetting carnal abuse.

Last Friday, all four were additionally charged with five counts of trafficking in humans by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The case will be mentioned again on October 5.