News Briefs

Woman charged after allegedly attempting to collect dead mom's pension

A St Andrew woman who allegedly attempted to collect her dead mother’s pension has been arrested and charged by the police.

The Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Branch report that 54-year-old Janet Jarrett of Hillside Crescent was charged on Wednesday with forgery, uttering forged documents and obtaining money by means of false pretence.

It is reported that on January 21, Jarrett went to the Accountant General’s Department to update the banking information of her mother, Hermine Byrant, to facilitate the collection of her pension.

The police say the identification card she presented aroused the suspicion of the representative.

The police were alerted and an investigation was carried out which revealed that Jarrett’s mother had died in 2016.

She was consequently arrested and charged.

 

 

STATIN to conduct survey on criminal justice system

KINGSTON (CMC):

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) says it will be conducting a survey to gather people’s perception of public safety and the criminal justice system on the island.

It said that the Jamaica National Crime Victimisation Survey (JNCVS), to be conducted between September and November this year, will allow for a better understanding of people’s views of safety in their communities, their confidence in law-enforcement agencies, and the socio-demographic details of the victims.

The questionnaire will also cover the participants’ views on social intervention programmes and their effectiveness, and their perception of authorities related to the criminal justice system.

The JNCVS is conducted every three years.

 

 

J'can gets 21 years in US for smuggling people

MIAMI (AP):

A Jamaican man has been sentenced to more than two decades in prison in the United States for running a human-smuggling operation.

Court records show that 44-year-old Michael Stapleton was extradited to the US last year and sentenced on Thursday to 21 years and 10 months.

A federal jury in South Florida found him guilty of 47 counts related to a people-smuggling scheme.

Prosecutors say Stapleton coordinated the smuggling of undocumented immigrants to the United States from around the world through Freeport, Bahamas. Witnesses testified that Stapleton used the vulnerability of the immigrants to exploit them by demanding more money from them after they were in his power, keeping them in deplorable conditions, mistreating them and sending them out in unsafe boats.

 

 

Barbados courts free to impose death penalty

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Barbados Attorney General Dale Marshall says the country's parliament has acted to amend all laws, including the Constitution, in order to permit the courts to impose the death penalty if warranted.

Marshall was responding to a newspaper article published on Thursday, indicating that High Court judges have found themselves caught between a Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling on the mandatory imposition of the death penalty and statutes which have not yet been amended.

The Nation newspaper reported that with the last murder trial having been possibly done in May 2018, judges, as well as a senior defence attorney and a prosecutor, are urging Parliament to make the amendments as soon as possible.

The attorney general said that with the amendments having been sorted out and proclaimed on April 4, having consulted with the director of public prosecutions, the courts are in a position and are ready to do murder trials and for the death penalty to be imposed under law.