[COURTHOUSE]:::Delay In Corruption/Larceny case

No. 50 Friday, February 05, 2010
The Montego Bay RM Court on Tuesday, February 2 was not able to hear legal arguments in the case against a police officer facing larceny and corruption charges.

   Thirty-eight year-old Constable Altiman Shakes who was attached to the Motorized Patrol Division in Kingston was charged after he allegedly collected $18,000 from a man in order not to prosecute him and stole a quantity of his personal belongings.
    The hearing was scheduled to continue on Tuesday but failed to proceed as the accused officer was not present.
The policeman’s attorney Martyn Thomas told the court that the constable was ill and that he was in possession of his medical certificate. 

   Resident Magistrate Vivienne Harris then issued a bench warrant but the execution of the warrant has been stayed until April 20.
Reports are that on May 15, 2007, the constable was on special duty along Barnett Street in Montego Bay when he accosted the complainant, who was selling CDs, and informed him of his intention to charge him with breaches of the Copyright Act.
    The cop then seized the complainant’s CD player, amplifier and equalizer and took him along with the items to the Freeport Police Station.
    The complainant was offered station bail that same day and was scheduled to appear in court on May 30 but no case file was submitted to the court.
    The complainant then called Constable Shakes and made enquiries regarding the matter not being before the court and the cop told him to pay him $30,000 and not to worry.
The complainant later handed over $18,000 to the constable who assured him that his goods would be returned to him, which never materialize.
    The court also learnt that the constable then prepared a summons and placed it along with the file before the court without the complainant’s knowledge.
    However, the case against the complainant was dismissed for want of prosecution.

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