A man allegedly purporting to be a motor vehicle salesman had his bail revoked on Thursday, as Senior Parish Judge Lori-Anne Cole-Montaque had issues with the manner in which he was granted it initially.
Judge Cole-Montaque was left stunned upon hearing that Shaun Palmer, who is charged on an indictment for two counts of non-deliver of goods or services on contracted date, seven counts of fraudulent conversion and six counts of obtaining money by means of false pretence, was on bail, and the police accepted the same surety for each charge. It was further shared by prosecutors in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court that Palmer was offered station bail in the sum of at least $400,000 for some of the offences, and the same surety was accepted. For other charges, he was summoned to court. Palmer is accused of collecting in excess of $10 million from several complainants for the importation of motor vehicles.
“This was not wise. How can the police allow one surety to bail him for so many offences? You see, we take very lightly to the processes involved in court,” the senior jurist said.
She was further aggrieved as prosecutors related that there were three addresses in Portland listed on file for Palmer while one complainant indicted that he had addresses in the Corporate Area.
“If there is a problem in the future, he should be someone we can easily find. I must say, the figures are impressive, the figures carry weight and the multiplicity of the charges and yet the C-TOC [Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch] police summoned him one, two charges and the same C-TOC police allowed one person to bail him on six or seven of the counts. These are things that make people leave here and think there are two different laws,” Judge Cole-Montaque argued.
She then revoked Palmer’s bail and immediately ordered that the investigators verify his addresses on file and to have the surety brought to court. She stressed that it is part of judicial function as the senior judge of the parish to have “all things in line” as she “does not have the luxury to turn a blind eye” to discrepancies that arise in the criminal courts.
The matter was adjourned until September 18 for the police to conduct thorough checks of Palmer’s addresses on file. – T.T.
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