A Sandys man supposed to be incarcerated awaiting a Supreme Court trial for alleged robbery was set free mid May and failed to show up at his court date yesterday. Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety Robert Horton called the premature release of Kevin Leroy Butterfield ?unacceptable and inexcusable?.

Butterfield was charged with robbing Nelson Pavao of cash, cheques and a TV on May 25 of last year and was remanded in custody after initially being bailed until his trial.

The trial was scheduled to begin yesterday.

Mr. Horton explained that Butterfield was released on May 15 although his bail had been revoked. He said Westgate staff were unaware, as they should have been, that Mr. Butterfield?s bail in the case of the Supreme Court matter had been revoked and that he was required to remain at Westgate.

He added that the Ministry ?deeply regret? the circumstances that led to Butterfield?s release.

Commissioner of Corrections, Hubert Dean, spent yesterday in talks with relevant staff and their supervisors in order to ensure measures are in place so that a similar ?administrative error? does not happen again, Mr. Horton said.

The news comes a week after reported that a convicted paedophile who is living at the Transitional Living Centre was allowed to attend the June 24 Barrs Bay Park concert. The 80-year-old, who cannot be named in order to protect the victims? privacy, was jailed for 16 months in February for preying on his two young step-grandchildren. He has not yet completed a sex offender treatment programme and is not eligible for release from Westgate until at least the end of the year. Mr. Horton said last week that an ?error in judgment? had led to the man being moved from the Westgate Correctional Facility to the Transitional Living Centre.

Yesterday he said that though the incidents happened within six weeks of each other it was incorrect to deduce that there were staffing issues at Westgate.

?In the main, the staff at our correctional facilities perform to a high standard and I believe that the recent incidents are something of an aberration.?

Currently the Bermuda Police Service is conducting a search for Butterfield who will be remanded once he is caught. The jury members who appeared at Supreme Court yesterday for his trial were dismissed.