REAL NEWS- An All Saints man has been arrested and charged for defrauding several people of thousands of dollars over the period of one year.
On Monday, October 31, he appeared before Chief Magistrate Joanne Walsh in the St. John’s Magistrates Court, facing multiple charges of obtaining money by false pretense and fraudulent conversion.
These offences reportedly took place at various locations across the island –some in District A and the others in District B of the court’s jurisdictions.
The 41-year-old man is alleged to have written cheques, knowing that he did not have enough funds in his account to cover them.
A source says he is alleged to have defrauded about six different people this year alone. These offences reportedly occurred in January, May, June, and July, with the last incident taking place on October 25.
The man was remanded to St. John’s Police Station on Monday, as his lawyer, Michael Archibald – who did not request bail in the lower court – was seeking to make an application before a High Court judge.
However, as Archibald reportedly was going through this process, the Police again arrested and slapped his client with two additional charges of fraudulent conversion and intent to defraud.
The Police are alleging that, with intent to defraud, the All Saints villager issued a Caribbean Union Bank cheque in the amount of $20,000 to a woman – while being aware that the funds on his account were not sufficient to honor the cheque.
This offence reportedly occurred on August 16, 2021, in St. John’s.
The second offence of these two recent charges – which occurred in St. John’s between February 23 and March 1, 2021 – is fraudulent conversion.
Reportedly, the accused is said to have fraudulently converted for his own use and benefit the sum of $14,000 entrusted to him by the same woman for the purchase of two containers.
For these two offences he was again taken before Chief Magistrate Walsh, on Wednesday, November 2, at which time he was remanded to His Majesty’s Prison – instead of the police station – as his lawyer continues to seek an audience before a judge to get him bail.
Meanwhile, the accused is still to appear before Magistrate Ngaio Emanuel-Edwards at the All Saints Magistrates Court to answer to the charges in District B.
Magistrate Emanuel-Edwards is currently on leave.
