$200 for election cursing

A 40-year-old Mason Hall man who laced security officers with obscenities after he was debarred entry to a polling station in the district because of his apparent intoxicated state, was ordered by Scarborough Senior Magistrate Annette McKenzie to pay a $200 fine or serve one month in jail with hard labour. Linley Jack pleaded guilty in the Scarborough First Court to a charge of using obscene language at the polling station based at the Mason Hall Government Secondary School during the conduct of Monday’s Tobago House of Assembly (THA) polls.

He was arrested by a police officer on duty at the polling station. The court was told that Jack, who had a glass with an alcoholic drink in hand, went to the polling station. He was observed to be staggering. The two MTS security guards manning the entry point told him he could not enter, and he responded by blasting them with obscene language. The police officer who saw the commotion warned Jack about his behaviour and he also got his share of obscene verbal abuse. Jack was promptly arrested and hauled off to the Moriah Police Station.