Questelles resident slapped with $800 fine on four charges

Questelles resident Sonia Mascoll has one month to pay fines of $800 after she used indecent language on a police officer and refused to remove her vehicle or give him her name.

When she appeared before magistrate Carla James at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court on August 14, Mascoll pleaded guilty to four of five charges with which she had been charged.{{more}}

She was charged that at Bentick Square, Kingstown, she resisted arrest, used indecent language, failed to move her motor vehicle when requested to do so by a uniformed police officer, parked a vehicle on a footpath so as to cause inconvenience and failed to give her name and address when requested to do so by a uniformed officer.

According to police, on Saturday, June 13, at about 2:50 a.m, Corporal 316 Henry Providence and a party of officers were on duty where there was a large crowd attending a show at Victoria Park. Corporal Providence, who was on patrol, made inquiries about a truck he observed parked on the sidewalk just outside the hospital.

He then later observed another vehicle driven by Mascoll pulling up and parking on the same sidewalk as the other vehicle. Providence then informed Mascoll that she could not park there, to which she replied “If he could park there, I could park here too,” pointing to the truck.

According to Providence, he repeated himself, but Mascoll refused to move, stating “Me and he together; if he can park there, I can park here too.”

Police claimed that when asked to come out of her vehicle, she refused, which is an offence. The court heard that Mascoll was told she could be arrested, but she refused to give her name and address, which is also an offence.

According to the report, Providence held on to her, but she pulled away and said “You stupid, you **expletive** stupid.” Mascoll was then arrested and taken to the Central Police Station.

Defence counsel Ronald Marks said the police officer was impatient in dealing with his client. He claimed that Mascoll was on the phone trying to get someone to park her vehicle when the police officer pulled her out the vehicle. According to Marks, when Mascoll inquired about the reason she was being arrested, the corporal responded “You want me man handle you.”

Marks stated that the police did not conduct themselves in a professional manner and asked that the court reprimand and discharge his client. He then pleaded that time be given if a fine is imposed, because his client operates a business in the Questelles area and the road diversion was preventing her from doing business for some time now.

After considering Marks’ plea of mitigation, the magistrate withdrew the charge of resisting arrest.

However, on the charge of indecent language, she was fined in the sum of $250, to be paid within one month or spend one month in prison; on the charge of failing to remove vehicle, she was fined $300, to be paid within one month or three weeks imprisonment; and for the charge of failing to give her name when requested to do so by police officer in uniform, she was fined $250 in one month or spend two weeks in prison.(AS)