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Trio arrested for altercation with police

Magistrates' Court (photo by Glenn Tucker)

A group of three family members appeared in Magistrates’ Court this morning in connection with an altercation with police.

Jason Dillas, 30, Jaynae Dillas, 29, and Kevin Smith, 58, were all charged with various offences related to an incident yesterday afternoon near the junction of Church Street and Queen Street.

The court heard that at around 4.15pm, officers noticed Jaynae Dillas standing near a motorcycle parked on the sidewalk, while Jason Dillas was on a motorcycle parked on a double-yellow line.

Prosecutors said that officers approached the siblings, at which point Jaynae Dillas got onto her motorcycle as if to leave the area. An officer placed their hands on her motorcycle, at which point she said: “Get your hands off my bike.” She then refused to provide officers with her name and address, despite being told it was an offence. Told she was going to be arrested, she allegedly attempted to resist being hand cuffed.

Meanwhile, Jason Smith allegedly shouted at the officers that they did not need to handcuff his sister. Informed he would also be arrested, he lashed out at the officers with his hands until he was taken to the ground and handcuffed.

During the course of the incident a crowd formed and Mr Smith — the uncle of the other defendants — shouted at the officers to stop.

Further officers later arrived at the scene and all three were arrested.

Appearing in court this morning, Jason Dillas pleaded guilty to violently resisting arrest and parking on a double yellow line, while Jaynae Dillas admitted obstructing police, parking on the sidewalk and refusing to provide her information to officers.

Mr Smith initially denied obstructing police, but reversed his plea and admitted the offence later in the session.

Delivering sentence, magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo noted that neither of the Dillas siblings had any previous convictions and that two of the defendants had spent the night in custody, granting them absolute discharges for their obstructing police and violently resisting arrest charges, cautioning them: “Easy is better than hard.”

However he fined Jason Smith $100 for his parking offence, and Jaynae Smith $100 and $150 for her parking offence and her refusal to give police her name respectively.

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