SAN FRANCISCO – A Californian judge has set $30 million (€20 million) bail for a man accused of kidnapping, raping and holding captive an 11-year-old girl for 18 years.
El Dorado county superior court judge Douglas Phimister yesterday called Phillip Garrido (58) a flight risk and threat to public safety as he set bail, court spokeswoman Jackie Davenport said.
The judge also agreed to a request from the defence for a psychological evaluation of the convicted rapist and registered sex offender, who police say held Jaycee Dugard (29) in a run-down backyard collection of tents and shacks for most of her life.
Garrido and his wife Nancy (54) have both pleaded not guilty to 29 criminal counts that include kidnapping for sexual purposes, forcible lewd acts and rape.
The pair snatched Ms Dugard from a street near her South Lake Tahoe home on June 10th, 1991, when she was 11, police say, and kept her captive in the makeshift compound behind their home for almost two decades.
Authorities say Phillip Garrido, who served 10 years in federal prison for the rape of another woman, fathered two girls with Ms Dugard and they too lived in the backyard sheds.
Investigators also found a sliver of bone that may be human in a neighbouring yard where Garrido had once lived and will compare the DNA to a list of unsolved murders.
Garrido aroused the suspicion of police while trying to proselytise at the University of California at Berkeley. – (Reuters)