after being freed from jail.

Jose Ramorez says he escaped life as a beggar in the Dominican Republic by hiding on an oil tanker.

But instead of arriving in New York as he expected, he found himself in St.

George's, where he was arrested.

During more than a month in Casemates he made an apparent attempt to hang himself.

Yesterday, after a passionate plea from lawyer Mr. Mark Pettingill, the 24-year-old illegal immigrant was released.

Ramorez says he was unlawfully imprisoned and is planning legal action for compensation -- maybe against Solicitor General Mr. Barrie Meade and Prisons Commissioner Mr. Edward Dyer.

He praised locals who backed his $1,000 bail and helped his case.

"They are Godsent angels,'' he told The Royal Gazette through a Spanish-speaking interpreter.

Ramorez was last night settling into the Salvation Army's Harbour Light refuge with a box of chocolates and a pack of cigarettes.

"I don't have a mother or father and back home I lived on the streets. The only way to survive was by begging.

"I didn't like sleeping in the dirt and having nothing to eat or wear.'' He said violence -- like the attack that left him with one eye -- was common at home.

"I want to stay here but I know I can't. I don't know what the future holds for me.'' In despair in jail, one day he went to the top floor of Casemates and tried to hang himself from a rafter with his pants, he said. He said he does not know if he planned to kill himself.

Ramorez originally told Police his name was Williams.

On Thursday Mr. Pettingill failed in a Supreme Court bid to get him freed after Mr. Meade argued there was no record of a Ramorez in custody.

After the Supreme Court case Ramorez was held at Hamilton Police station.

Firefighters were later called to deal with a burning blanket in a cell.

Yesterday Ramorez appeared in Magistrates' Court and denied destroying a $60 Bermuda Government blanket. In an emotional speech, Mr. Pettingill called on Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis to allow him to walk free.

Mr. Pettingill told the court even Mr. Meade had admitted Ramorez had been unlawfully detained.

"I am candidly astounded at the level of justice that has been portrayed and the way that the laws of this Country have been played with.

"He got on a boat and went looking for democracy somewhere and he found this in Bermuda. It's an abomination.'' He had been kept for longer than the legal limit of 28 days.

Mr. Meade had used "artifice'' and a "technicality'' in Supreme Court.

The lawyer added local people were now "lining up'' to help Ramorez.

Crown prosecutor Ms Sharon Kenny said inquiries were still being made to check Ramorez's identity. "We don't know for sure that he is who he says he is.'' He could be held as a person charged under immigration law for another 14 days, she said, pending a decision on deportation.

But Mr. Pettingill said her interpretation of the law was "nifty''.

Mr. Francis bailed him as long as he stays with the Salvation Army, reports to Police daily and obeys a 10 p.m. curfew. He will appear in court again next Friday.

COUNTDOWN TO FREEDOM -- Illegal alien Jose Ramorez, surrounded by Police, is taken to court with lawyer Mr. Mark Pettingill (far right).