A possible case of mistaken identity resulted in an aggravated young man in Magistrates' Court complaining that he was unable to spend Mother's Day with his mother.

Twenty-eight-year-old Nathaniel Colin Washington of North Shore, Pembroke, appeared before Senior Magistrate Will Francis in a plea court session this week.

Washington angrily told the Senior Magistrate that he was not the man Police were after.

Pleading not guilty to a charge of speeding, Washington told the court that it is not the first time officers have wrongly arrested him.

"Your honour, I really don't think this is fair. Officers arrested and locked me up for a whole day. I couldn't even go with my mother on Mother's Day,'' said Washington. "And this is not the first time this has happened. They did this to me back in December as well.'' It seems the middle initials and the address on the ticket issued did not match those of the man accused in court, although the birth dates were the same.

Nathaniel's father, Colin Washington, was also in court and appeared upset as he complained to Mr. Francis.

"They took his belt from him and would not even give it back to him so that he could look decent to appear here, his pants are falling down and he has to hold them up,'' Mr. Washington said.

He later added: "It looks like they are doing everything besides the right thing. I asked if I could see or talk to him and they told me no. I asked why, has he murdered somebody? They came to my house on Saturday morning and I've never had an experience like that before. I thought he had murdered somebody.'' Mr. Francis was going to dismiss the case, but prosecutor Veronica Gordon requested that the officer who issued the ticket be called in to clear up the identification issue.

Yesterday, the arresting officer confirmed that he had not issued the ticket to Nathaniel Washington.

Mr. Francis therefore dismissed the case and sought to calm tempers by relaying problems he has had because there are four individuals named William Francis on the Island.

"You are not the only person to suffer this type of indignity because others have the same name as yours,'' he said.