Tensions were high in a Grenada court on Friday as five officers charged in the beating death of a Toronto man were granted bail.
Nicole Best, a freelance reporter based in Grenada, said emotions boiled over when relatives of Oscar Bartholomew, and others in the court, heard the unexpected ruling.
"They were visibly shaken, they were emotionally unsettled, they were crying. It was very moving and we also had hundreds of onlookers and there were some that were actually crying when the news came out that they would be granted bail," Best told CTV News Channel.
Their bail will begin next Friday if the men can come up with the equivalent of about CDN$38,000.
The men will be subject to a number of conditions as part of their bail, Best said.
They must report to a police station every day -- though they are banned from the St. David's police station where the incident occurred. They must also surrender all travel documents and refrain from intimidating any of the witnesses in the case, or their families.
Their next court date is scheduled for Jan. 27.
The officers face manslaughter charges related to the Boxing Day incident when Oscar Bartholomew hugged a female police officer he mistakenly believed was a childhood friend.
Relatives and witnesses say officers took the 39-year-old into custody, then badly beat him into a coma in the St. David's police station.
Bartholomew, who was on vacation in Grenada with his Canadian wife, died the next day in hospital.
An autopsy showed severe head trauma including a fracture to his skull.
Relatives of Bartholomew, as well as other residents who have experienced similar incidents, have complained of widespread police brutality on the island and an apparent unwillingness by officials to address the problem.
It wasn't until days after Bartholomew's death that the accused officers were charged, and earlier this week hundreds of protesters marched through the streets demanding a guilty verdict for the officers.
Demonstrators have also complained bitterly that the officers weren't charged with murder.
Prosecutor Christopher Nelson opposed bail in court on Friday, arguing that granting freedom to the accused could trigger "public disorder" and would raise the possibility that vigilante groups would try to enact their own justice.
However, Canadian-trained defence lawyer Anslem Clouden said the court must make its decision based solely on whether the men were considered to be a flight risk.
The charged officers, all constables, are Edward Gibson, Shaun Ganness, Roddy Felix, Kenton Hazzard and Wendell Sylvester.
