Student who lied about kidnapping reprimanded, discharged

Black Immigrant Daily News

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A 20-year-old accounting student who pleaded guilty to wasting the police’s time when she falsely claimed she was kidnapped in January 2020 and was fined $600 in 2020, has been reprimanded and discharged.

On Thursday, Justices of Appeal Mark Mohammed and Maria Wilson upheld the student’s appeal after assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Nigel Pilgrim said the State was not resisting the appeal, as the magistrate, in sentencing the accused, conflated the issues before the court and appeared to have been dominated by another case.

It was also submitted that the sentencing guidelines were not followed.

“The sentence was wrong and the process and outcome were wrong.”

The student, from Moruga, was charged after she reported to the police she was kidnapped on January 31, 2020, by a man at the C3 shopping centre. She claimed she was bundled into her car and told to drive to a nearby hardware store, where duct tape and tie straps were bought. She claimed she was then tied up and driven to an unknown location before she was given back her keys.

When interviewed by police, the 20-year-old admitted the story was a lie and she had not been kidnapped, but had gone out with a boy and did not want her boyfriend and family to know.

In sentencing her, the magistrate pointed to newspaper reports of missing girls and another case involving a young man who used his boss’s money and was afraid.

“This one, she wants to go and lime with somebody. What message would I send to…reprimand and discharge? No.”

The magistrate refused the request and referred to the finding of bodies and skeletal remains and the case he had previously dealt with before imposing the fine.

In a plea of mitigation, the woman’s attorney said her parents were market vendors, and she had passes at the CSEC and CAPE level and was named the second-best performing accounting student that year.

At the appeal on Thursday, the judges, who commended Pilgrim for the position he took, said the magistrate should have considered the plea in mitigation and should also be careful of what they say.

The student was represented by attorney Dane Halls, who also commended Pilgrim.

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