‘Bigger Biggs’ pays his fine with assistance from others

Leon “Bigger Biggs” Samuel is thanking all the persons who pooled resources to help him pay traffic fines totalling $800.

Samuel, CEO and director of the Bigger Group of Companies, exited the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court on Monday,holding three receipts in the air,{{more}} while reporters took his photograph.

On Wednesday, December 3, Samuel was found guilty of three traffic offences.

Magistrate Carla James fined Samuel $300 for failing to comply with a “No Parking” sign.

For obstructing the free flow of traffic, Samuel was fined $300. And for unnecessarily obstructing the free flow of traffic, he was fined $200.

Failure to pay the fines would have resulted in a three week prison sentence for Samuel, who was given until January 5, 2015 to have the fines paid in full.

During hearing of the case, it was revealed by Samuel’s lawyer that only a few weeks ago, the court made an order against Samuel and his company for $4,211,659.97 which Samuel owed FirstCaribbean International Bank.

When contacted on Wednesday, Samuel said people heard the decision by the court by way of radio and reading it in the newspapers and decided to help.

“The SEARCHLIGHT did a good job of carrying the story and I think what is going on with me touched a lot of people. All I wanted to do was get the attention of the authorities,” Samuel said.

On September 17, 2014, Samuel was arrested while staging a one-man picket outside the office of the Attorney General Judith Jones-Morgan, at Granby Street, to protest what he deemed to be the dragging of feet in relation to an application he had filed for permission to resume sand mining on his land at Rabacca.

That application for permission to resume aggregate mining was approved on Thursday, October 2.

“I think persons understand fully why I did what I did… In my mind, if it wasn’t for what the authorities was doing to me, I wouldn’t have no need to do that,” Samuel added.

In thanking people for making contributions to assist with paying his fine, Samuel said he also received financial assistance from people in the United States.

“I just want to thank everybody for helping me. I really appreciate it,” he further expressed.

When asked if he was satisfied with the magistrate’s verdict and fines, Samuel said he had no problem with her ruling.

“The magistrate was fair and was doing her job. I have nothing bad to say about her. She dealt with the evidence that was presented and I am okay with that,” he said.

Samuel also described the fines as “$800 well spent. It was worth it.”(KW)