$1,000 for wasting police time

Ramdeo Mathura, 58, told police he lives in Maraval and came to San Fernando on Wednesday where he bought drugs because he and his wife are going through a divorce and he is frustrated.

He pleaded guilty before Magistrate Indira Misir-Gosine to the charge of wasteful employment of the police’s time.

Only last week, a Barrackpore woman appeared in the same court but before another magistrate, charged with a similar offence in which she reported to the police that she was abducted by three men, drugged and placed into the trunk of a vehicle along the M2 Ring Road, near La Romaine. The woman has pleaded not guilty.

After Mathura pleaded guilty, court prosecutor Sgt Krishna Bedassie told Magistrate Misir-Gosine that on Wednesday at High Street, San Fernando, Mathura told Constable Luke Ramcharitar that he was robbed of his wallet and $220 by a man whom he knew by the name “Shabba”. This man Shabba, Mathura said, kept Mathura against his will at a house in Mt Moriah, San Fernando.

The court heard that Mathura further reported that at about 1 pm, Shabba took him to Republic Bank on High Street where he was told to withdraw some cash. PC Ramcharitar escorted Mathura to San Fernando Police Station and also took along Shabba whom the officer met on High Street.

Sgt Bedassie told Magistrate Misir- Gosine that when the police officer informed Shabba of the offence he had committed, namely kidnapping, Mathura changed his story. He confessed at the police station that he had made a false report.

Ramcharitar charged him with the offence of wasteful employment of the police’s time.

Sgt Bedassie said that the accused told PC Ramcharitar, “officer, I real sorry....let me tell you what happened.

My wife and I are going through a divorce and we cannot see eye-to-eye because of finances. I start using drugs about two months now. I came to San Fernando and had about $2,000 on me.

When Shabba came, I spent out all my money.

I am sorry for what I do.” Magistrate Misir- Gosine told Mathu- ra that his criminal record showed he had been using drugs for several years now. He has a similar conviction a few years ago for wasteful employment of the police’s time and was given a custodial sentence. Sgt Bedassie told Magistrate Misir-Gosine that the crime of wasteful employment of the police’s time is becoming prevalent in which scarce resources of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service are used for investigating reports which turns out to be false.

He referred the magistrate to last week’s appearance in court of Reshma Maharaj who was charged with wasteful employment of the police’s time by faking her kidnapping. “A stern message needs to be sent because of the prevalence of this offence milady,” Sgt Bedassie said. Magistrate Misir-Gosine fined Mathura $1,000 and granted him two weeks to pay it.