The mother of the young man at the center of the firestorm that has triggered a police probe into the recent actions of Cabinet minister V. Alfred Gray said yesterday she called Gray last Thursday asking him to assist her son get bail.

Natasha Charlton said she called Gray, her MP, after Mayaguana Island Administrator Zephaniah Newbold, acting in his capacity as local magistrate, convicted her son of disorderly behavior, obscene language, assault and resisting arrest, and sentenced him on the spot to three months in prison.

"I said to him, Minister, I need your assistance in helping my son to get bail. Ask the administrator to give him bail because he needs to go and attend the doctor," she said when both she and her son, Jaquan Charlton, 19, sat down with The Nassau Guardian.

"He has a referral (from a doctor) and that (bail)was denied by the prosecutor, and the magistrate decided he is going to go with whatever the prosecutor says.

That was it." The teen and his mother, who are residents of Mayaguana, claimed he suffered a significant injury to his hand while in police custody on that island, which is part of Gray's constituency.

They said the local doctor told them they needed to get to Nassau right away to have it x-rayed or he could end up with a permanent deformity.

Gray has denied that he acted improperly when he spoke with Newbold in relation to the matter. The teen told The Guardian that after he was convicted and sentenced he was sent to the police lock-up.

He said he was eventually returned to court and Newbold told him he was free to go. On Tuesday, Newbold confirmed that he released the young man outright and not on bail.

In an interview with The Guardian on Friday, Gray said he told Newbold that as the matter was now under appeal he could release Charlton on bail.

The teen and his mother confirmed yesterday that he was released outright.

Jaquan Charlton said he got into an altercation with a police officer on Mayaguana at a club on March 14 after he questioned the officer about the way the officer had allegedly been treating his younger brother.

Natasha Charlton said her son was arraigned, convicted and sentenced within an hour. "To me, it's like the trial had already taken place.

He just went there for sentencing. It was like the lamb to the slaughter. It's like this took place in a communist country, not in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, where you have rights..." said Charlton, who alleges that no one was ever sworn in during the case.

The young man's mother also claimed that he was not allowed to have legal representation. "He never had a lawyer in court," she insisted.

"He was denied." Malicious prosecution? Attorney Christina Galanos, who is now representing Charlton in a civil case he intends to file against the government, said, "I've never heard of arraignment, trial, sentencing, all in one.

I've never heard of it. "It's usually an arraignment and adjournment."She said the teen never even got a chance to say what happened between him and the officer.

His mother added, "It was like, we were there to just receive whatever punishment. What happened after that is that he asked for an appeal.

He told them that he needed to go see a doctor.

He had the referral (from the island's doctor)."

Natasha Charlton said after the appeal was denied she went home and wrote a letter to the magistrate asking formally for the appeal.

It was at that point, she said, she called Gray, her MP.

"I called him and that was it," she said.

"I didn't know anything." Natasha Charlton said she did not even know when her son was released because she was not in court when it happened.

Newbold has told his superiors that Gray called him on this matter twice, The Nassau Guardian understands.

Asked how she feels about the fact that her MP is now under fire over the incident, she said, "It's sad.

I can't say what he told the magistrate.

"I can only tell you what I asked for. It doesn't matter who it was.

He would have helped anybody on that island. The minister, to me, was my last resort because the magistrate wasn't listening...He was actually the only person I could call."

Telling his version of events, Jaquan Charlton said he was surprised that he was convicted on the spot.

He said after he was convicted, police took him to a cell and kept him there for about an hour and a half.

"They took me back to the administrator, and he told me that how this is my first time being arrested, he doesn't want to give me a bad record," the teen said.

"...He told me he didn't want me to have [any] bad record, and how I apologized to the police officer he just [will] let me go. That's what he told me."

Jaquan Charlton said he did not know what happened to cause the administrator to change his mind about the conviction.

He said he was surprised by it. Asked about how he feels about the controversy surrounding the minister, he said, "I feel bad because, I didn't know he had anything to do with this."

Galanos made the point that Charlton could not be on bail because he was not given a date to return to court.

"If he was on bail, then there would have to be a date to come back. Nobody gave him a date to come back," Galanos said.

"That in and of itself says he is not on bail."

Natasha Charlton said her son has filed an official complaint to the police force's Complaints and Corruption unit.

Galanos said the family will file a civil claim against the government for the manner in which police allegedly treated Charlton.

"I have to do the research, but I have never heard about anyone being charged,arraigned, convicted, sentenced, all in one sitting," the lawyer said.

"I'm thinking the course of action there may be malicious prosecution.However, I have to do my research.

There is definitely some course of action for all of that."

Yesterday, Prime Minister Perry Christie announced that the matter of Gray's alleged interference in a judicial process is now under a police investigation.

He said Gray has been stripped of his local government portfolio pending the outcome of that investigation.

Gray remains minister of agriculture and marine resources.

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