Jail sentence for Regiment dodger

A 24-year-old Devonshire man was sentenced to three months in prison in Magistrates' Court yesterday for failing to show up for his military duty.

Crown counsel Wayne Caines told the court that Ricardo Brangman failed to attend Regiment training sessions eight times between April 6 and May 18.

Brangman, of Roberts Avenue, was enlisted in the Regiment on October 6, 1998.

Mr. Caines told Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves that in July, 2003, Brangman was given a three-month sentence that was suspended for two years.

Brangman said he gave his Commanding Officer doctors' notes but they told him he was not sick.

Mr. Caines told the court that another recruit, Derrick Levar Hart, 21, of Cox Hill, Pembroke, failed to attend military training, on 12 occasions between April 1 and May 13.

Mr. Greaves sentenced Hart to three months in prison but suspended the sentence for three months.

“This means if you mess up again and come before this court, you will go to jail,” Mr. Greaves warned.

Ewings faces extradition to US

Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves yesterday remanded a 21-year-old American national for two weeks pending his extradition back to the US.

Corey Ewings of New Jersey was to be extradited to face trial for a “number of drugs charges”, Crown counsel Anthony Blackman said.

Craig Attridge was filling in for defence lawyer Victoria Pearman.

He said he had only received the papers that morning and was “at something at a loss”.

But Crown counsel Anthony Blackman said that he “was aware of the matter, and had spoken with Mr. Ewings over the weekend”.

Mr. Blackman said all that was required were dates regarding his extradition hearings since Mr. Greaves already signed a Government warrant on May 20.

Mr. Greaves remanded Ewings for two weeks.

Robinson released on $1,000 bail

A Warwick man pleaded not guilty to unlawfully wounding another man in Magistrates' Court on Friday.

Troy Robinson, 23, was charged with unlawfully wounding Derek Boys in Devonshire on May 8. He was released on $1,000 bail.

Robinson will be tried in Magistrates' Court on June 8.

Emergency surgery stalls trial

A 51-year-old man claimed yesterday that the statute of limitation had expired and the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction to continue with his trial for stealing yesterday.

Clinton McDonald Smith, of the Salvation Army Shelter in Pembroke, who was not represented by legal counsel, said the prosecution had taken too long to provide information for the case and cited the Criminal Code.

Smith said that he wasn't told until November 8, 2003 that the prosecution had gathered information for the incident that allegedly occurred on May 20 that year.

Smith pleaded not guilty to stealing a money bag, which contained $700, a Bank of Butterfield cash card and cheques, which brought the total value of the theft to $805. He chose in November last year that his trial be heard in the Supreme Court.

“I'm asking for a judgment in my favour,” Smith told Chief Justice Richard Ground.

Mr. Justice Ground explained the information was laid in plenty of time.

He said: “I admit that this has been delayed a bit but it was still within six months.

“This came to the Supreme Court by the defendant and it could have been dealt with more swiftly in Magistrates' Court, but it is the defendant's right to have a trial here.”

Smith's trial was delayed yesterday because the only witness had to be flown out for emergency surgery.

He was released on $1,000 bail and was ordered to appear for mention on June 1.

Girl's ‘credibility damaged'

A man accused of two counts of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl was found not guilty in Supreme Court last week.

The 22-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was released after 11 members of the five-man, seven-woman jury agreed that he was not guilty of the charges.

The girl alleged that the man sexually assaulted her on two occasions at his house in February and March of 2002.

In court the girl, who is now 14, admitted that she had contradicted herself several times.

Defence lawyer Peter Farge noted the discrepancies in her case.

He said: “She has given different stories and there are serious inconsistencies.

The girl had earlier explained that she did not tell the truth in the Police statements because she was scared of how her parents would react.

Crown counsel Graveney Bannister questioned why the girl would lie.

He asked the jury: “Why would a 12-year-old girl tell Police, or make a statement of embarrassing nature, of intimate, private detail? Why would she be giving such a report knowing that she would be submitted to an intrusive medical examination? Why would she come to court and in front of 12 strangers say that that man sexually assaulted her?”

Chief Justice Richard Ground said the young girl's credibility was damaged because she had waited to tell the Police. It was also revealed in court that a friend of the girl had actually reported the alleged incident to Police.

He said it would seem as if this case was “the young lady's word against his”.

The jury deliberated for two hours before returning the not guilty verdicts.