‘The worst 13 days of my life’
Woman recounts traumatic fortnight locked up after court official’s error
Published:Thursday | October 5, 2023 | 12:05 AMBarbara Gayle/Gleaner Writer
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A St Andrew woman who spent 13 days in custody because of an error by a court official at the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court says that although she was released last week Monday, she is still having nightmares because of the horrific...
A St Andrew woman who spent 13 days in custody because of an error by a court official at the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court says that although she was released last week Monday, she is still having nightmares because of the horrific conditions she had to endure.
Cutie Denise Lovelock told The Gleaner on Tuesday that the heat in the cell was so unbearable that at times, she felt as if she would faint.
The 33-year-old had pleaded guilty in 2017 to unlawful wounding and was given a two-year prison term and has been on bail since then pending the outcome of her appeal as she believes the sentence is manifestly excessive.
She explained that in July, she went to the courthouse to check on the records which should have been sent to the Court of Appeal to allow for a hearing. She said she was instructed to return another day.
When Lovelock returned to the court office on September 12, she was reportedly told to sit down.
“A policewoman came in and said ‘who is Denise Lovelock’ and I answered, and she said, ‘You are under arrest’, and when I asked what for, the response was ‘a two year you a go serve’.”
She told The Gleaner that she was then taken to the lock-up at the Bridgeport Police Station in Portmore, St Catherine.
AWFUL CONDITIONS
About two days later, she was taken to the women’s prison at South Camp Road in Kingston, “but they refused to accept me because they said they had no papers for me to be admitted to prison.
“I was taken back to Bridgeport, where I spent the worst 13 days of my life. The conditions there were awful, and many times, I felt angry and suicidal. I had to sleep on a concrete bunk, which had no sponge on it,” she recalled of the ordeal.
“I am happy that my family members brought the injustice to the attention of the public in The Gleaner on Saturday, September 23, because the [following] Monday, the police came to the cell and told me I had a court date. I was taken to the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court, where a clerk outlined the situation to the judge, who ordered my release,” she added.
STILL WAITING AFTER SIX YEARS
Lovelock is upset and frustrated that after six years, the records of her case have not been prepared so her appeal can be heard.
She explained that she was not the aggressor in the case because a woman attacked her and pushed her to the ground. She said that in self-defence, she hit the woman with a bottle and she received a cut in her face.
“I pleaded guilty to unlawful woundīng because I thought a fine would have been imposed and I did not want to waste time going to court several times,” she explained.
Attorney-at-law Tamika Harris, who is the chairperson for the Criminal Law Committee for the Jamaican Bar Association, has described Lovelock’s misfortune and the long delay by the courts in producing records as outrageous and a “serious indictment on our justice system”.
On Tuesday, attorney-at-law Melrose Reid, who is representing Lovelock, said that up to last week when she made checks, the records had not yet reached the Court of Appeal.