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Alleged gang members awarded $2,000 for bail delays toronto.ctv.ca

A judge has awarded nine alleged Driftwood Crips gang members $2,000 for undue delays in bail hearings following last month's massive raids in the Jane and Finch Streets neighbourhood.

Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer on Tuesday awarded the suspects the money for legal costs and as a way of denouncing the Crown's conduct, CTV's Chris Eby reported.

In the days following the June 13 raids in North York, where 95 people were arrested, Nordheimer blasted the Crown for delaying bail hearings, calling it an unacceptable breach of fundamental rights.

Rikardo Robinson, one of the nine suspects awarded the $2,000, was released from jail on Tuesday with the Crown's consent.

But the 27-year-old cargo agent at Pearson Airport says his life has been turned upside-down by the ordeal, and he has lost his job.

"Nothing is going to change, it doesn't matter," he told reporters outside the University Avenue courthouse.

"Two thousand dollars doesn't change the fact that they kick out your door at four in the morning, handcuff your parents and younger siblings then take you to a holding cell, and you stay there all night without eating and bring you to jail, and say 'OK, take $2,000 bucks.' What does that do?"

Robinson, who has no criminal record, is charged with gangsterism and conspiracy to traffic cocaine. He spent 16 days behind bars before being freed.

With a report from CTV's Chris Eby