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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 5/18/2018

Good Morning #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Friday, 18th May 2018. Remember that you can read full articles via subscribing to Nation News Online, purchasing a Weekend Nation Newspaper (WN), via Barbados Today (BT) or Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS).

DEMS’ THIRD-TERM DEAL – The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is promising to “aggressively transform” the economy by linking tourism with agriculture, cultural industries and renewable energy if it gets a third term in office. There are also plans to use a National Digital Strategy in a major push towards making Barbados a digital economy. But in its 52-page manifesto, officially launched last night at Oistins, Christ Church, the party said “wholesale” privatisation would not be part of its roadmap for the next five years. The DLP manifesto is predicated on sustainable economic diversification, maintaining key social services and protecting the vulnerable. A third straight election victory for the DLP will also not include tax relief until “the economy is diversified and achieves robust growth”. There are no promises of an across-the-board pay increase for civil servants. Instead, a pay-for-performance system will be introduced in the public sector, and existing salary scales will be adjusted “where possible”. The Dems also intend to maintain its policy not to pay tuition fees for Barbadians attending the University of West Indies (UWI), but will “continue to work with [UWI] to develop and build a funding model”. In the document Stand Strong Barbados: Towards A Digital Economy, the party said “achieving strong inter-sectoral linkages will be the focus and centrepiece” of its economic strategy with a promised provision of a 15 per cent land tax rebate for tourism-related entities that increased their local inputs by 25 per cent. Tourism entities will also be able to claim corporation tax of up to 150 per cent on expenditures related to locally-made items. The DLP’s increased focus on agriculture will involve using US$64 million from China to launch the Hope Agricultural Training Institute in St Lucy and the Agri-Business Science Park at Dukes with UWI, aimed at ensuring that by 2026 Barbadians will be growing at least half of what they eat. The DLP said vendors would no longer need a licence, they would simply be required to register with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. It will support the establishment of a credit union-owned and operated commercial bank. The party also said it would establish additional campuses of Samuel Jackman Institute of Technology in St Lucy and St Philip, and offer a tax deductible education savings account of up to $5 000 annually, and a tax deduction of up to $5 000 annually for the premium paid on eligible health insurance policies. Further, police who now perform administrative functions will be reallocated to increase the police presence in communities by 200 officers. The powers of magistrates will be expanded so that they can try cases to a value of $1 million, the magistrate courts’ hours will be extended to include after hours coupled with an increase in the power of the magistrate to sentence. The manifesto promised to decriminalise medical marijuana and “the possession of less than a minimum quantity of marijuana”. A drug court is also on the cards. The DLP also plans to provide corporation tax credits for up to 150 per cent of the costs of operating an e-commerce of digital commerce platform; establish a Green Bus Fund to support the replacement of the state bus fleet with cleaner, green vehicles; and provide a 25 per cent rebate on land taxes to households with vehicles not powered by fossil fuels. As part of the plans for a digital economy, the party also said it would “secure development financing for a youth-led project to digitize the entire records system of the public service within a specified time to bolster the efficiency of the public service, create employment for young people and improving the ease of doing business”. The DLP also intends to mandate at least 50 per cent female membership on all state boards by 2026 and that at least 25 per cent of all private sector boards should be female by 2026 and compel all large companies to publish their gender pay gap. The party said its manifesto plans were “reliant on skillful reallocation of resources, genuine private/public cooperation, international partnerships and volunteerism”. (WN)

AG PROMISES SAFER BARBADOS - Barbados’ Attorney General is assuring everyone the country is safe. And he’s looking to make it safer still. Democratic Labour Party candidate Adriel Brathwaite wants to attach a police officer to every school in Barbados as part of a wider plan to strengthen the force’s presence within the community. “We accept the fact that we need more community police officers [so] we’re going to move police officers back into the communities and let civilians do the jobs that they can do otherwise,” said Brathwaite during the DLP’s manifesto launch in Oistins. “It means we’re going to take policing back to the streets so the young men and women can feel a part of something. We’re therefore going to attach a police officer to every school in Barbados. We’re going to offer guidance to young people. “Barbados remains the safest country in the Caribbean [but] whenever the question of crime arises you will never be able to eliminate crime completely. We will do our best to continue to reduce the willingness of young people to get involved in criminal activities,” he added. (WN)

GANJA EASE – The incumbent Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is promising to decriminalize small quantities of marijuana for personal use, as well as for medical purposes, should it retain power in next week’s general election. The pledge is contained in the DLP’s manifesto, a leaked copy of which was obtained by Barbados TODAY ahead of its unveiling at a meeting in Oistins, Christ Church tonight. Robert Bobby Moris, the DLP’s campaign manager, has confirmed that the 56-page document which Barbados Labour Party leader Mia Mottley first flashed before supporters last night, and which Barbados TODAY has obtained, is indeed the party’s official list of campaign pledges. The party does not elaborate on its plans to decriminalize the herb in the document, except to state that it will decriminalize medical marijuana and possession of less than a minimum quantity of the drug. The debate over marijuana use has been a highly controversial one here, with Rastafarians insisting it should be legalized for religious reasons, while a growing number of people, many of whom are members of the disabled community who say they are tired of the side effects of pharmaceutical drugs, have been calling on the authorities to legalize it for medicinal purposes. However, Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite has said Barbados “will not, and should not jump ahead” to decriminalize ganja without proper dialogue. “I am not an advocate of the decriminalizing of small quantities because we do not know what we would be encouraging young people to put into their bodies,” Brathwaite said in November 2016 during debate on legalizing the drug. As recently as last September the Attorney General also repeated his position that any move towards decriminalization should be made from an informed position. Meantime, the DLP has placed a series of tax breaks for the all important tourism sector at the centre of its programme for a third term. The manifesto, entitled Stand Strong, Barbados, outlines the party’s plans to diversify the Barbadian economy around tourism, which has been the country’s primary foreign exchange earner. “The integration of tourism with agriculture, renewable energy, cultural industries and manufacturing will be the economic priority of the DLP over the 2018 to 2023 period. This new diversified economy will provide new opportunities for the skilled persons that make up the middle class, and provide the basis for tax relief,” the manifesto reads. The DLP promises to provide a land tax rebate of up to 15 per cent for tourism-related entities that can demonstrate at least a 25 per cent increase in the use of local inputs ranging from agriculture and cultural industries to manufacturing. Entities will be eligible for the rebate in the year they achieve the target, with 2018 as the base year. The rebates will continue as long as those levels are maintained. There will be a further ten per cent land tax rebate for tourism-related businesses that install systems that produce at least 50 per cent of their electricity generation requirements from renewable sources. New agri-businesses are also being promised a ten-year tax holiday. Additional incentives to the agri-business sector include 150 per cent deductible on interest paid on loans used for developing the sector, expenditures for product development and research, as well as expenditures for staff training. In addition to strengthening food security through agriculture, and developing the renewable energy sector, the DLP plans to modernize the public sector, to include the introduction of a pay-for-performance system based on key performance indicators for all Government departments and statutory corporations. The ruling party also promises to double the budget of the Youth Empowerment Scheme, increase the number of primary school teachers by 500 in the next four years, establish additional campuses of the Samuel Jackman Institute of technology in St Lucy and St Philip, and extend business hours at the magistrates’ courts in order to ease the case backlog. Some of the pledges are similar those in the BLP manifesto released a week ago. For example, both parties advocate the provision of free island wide Wi-Fi, as well as incentives for the privately-owned transport sector to purchase green vehicles. And like the BLP, the incumbent is also planning to upgrade the polyclinic network to expand access to health care and ease the burden on the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. However, the document, which is filled with picture illustrations, is silent on how a re-elected DLP Government would address the country’s falling reserves, which, according to the last Central Bank report, stood at $423 million, or 6.9 weeks of import cover, well below the recommended 12 weeks. Instead, in a one-page reference to the economy, the document states that taxes would lessen as the economy grows. The manifesto is also silent on what is to be done to fix the two-year long sewage spills on the south coast, while the issue of garbage collection was covered by promises of tougher legislations for illegal dumping and a national recycling programme. (BT)

NOT ONE RED CENT! – Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate for St John George Pilgrim is warning constituents of Christ Church East Central that they would be punished with severe neglect, if they were to elect the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to office on May 24. Speaking in support of DLP incumbent Ronald Jones during a spot meeting in Kingsland, Christ Church on Tuesday night, Pilgrim argued that due to its history as a DLP stronghold, the people of the southern constituency would be made to suffer in much the same way that St John residents were made to during the BLP’s last 14-year term in office. “From 1994 to 2008, the BLP would have allocated to the Ministry of Health at least $300 million a year and for 14 years that works out to about $4 billion. . . [but] not one red cent was spent on the people in St John and the St John Polyclinic,” Pilgrim said, while contending that “only because of where it was, they punished the people of St John and by extension, the people of Barbados, only because the people of St John supported [late Prime Minister] David Thompson and the DLP”. St John has been a stronghold of the DLP since 1958, and has been represented only by the island’s first Prime Minister Errol Barrow and David and Mara Thompson, while Christ Church East Central has kept faith with the incumbent party since 2003. Therefore, Pilgrim sought to warn constituents of Christ Church East Central that “if you ever make the mistake of electing the BLP, the good people of Christ Church East Central will see a level of victimization and poison unleashed on this country as it happened on the people of St John and the people of Barbados. “They denied people in this country health care only because of where the clinic was located and who they felt they were hurting,” Pilgrim said, adding that the BLP did the same thing to the Lloyd Erksine Sandiford Complex. (BT)

EITHER NSRL OR LAYOFFS, WARNS PAUL – A ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate has suggested that without the dreaded National Social Responsibility Levy (NSRL), the Freundel Stuart administration might have been left with no choice but to send home workers. “The NSRL raises tax revenue for Government, while at the same time controls expenditure on foreign goods,” explained James Paul during last night’s DLP meeting in Bank Hall, St Michael, in support of St Michael West candidate Michael Carrington. Linking the recent increase of the levy from two to ten per cent on both locally manufactured and imported goods to the need by Government to save jobs, the St Michael West Central candidate openly enquired: “Now, which do you prefer? Contributing money to keep people employed, or send them home?” At the same time, Paul took local trade unions to task over their criticisms of Government’s failure to grant pay increases to public servants.

“Despite the prevailing economic climate, our public servants are always paid in full and on time, and we have passed several laws which guarantee workers’ rights,” Paul pointed out, while suggesting that “the unions should focus their attention on the private sector, especially when it comes to contracted workers, who have no rights; when it comes to unemployment benefits, severance pay, vacation or sick leave, whereas Government workers receive all of these”. Also addressing last night’s meeting, Minister of Social Care Steve Blackett warned that if the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) were to take the reins of Government following next week’s general elections, constituency councils would be a thing of the past. “The constituency councils have served us well since we established them, but I believe that if the BLP takes over, these councils will be no more, because they have never supported them,” said Blackett, the incumbent representative for St Michael Central.

Blackett explained that the councils, which were set up by the DLP Government after it took office in 2008 to give voice to the concerns of residents of the various constituencies, were established in such a way that “all the political parties would be represented on them”. However, he lamented that “to this day, the Barbados Labour Party has never nominated anyone to serve on their behalf” on any of the councils, which are also mandated to maintain links with Central Government and other agencies with a view to effectively and efficiently managing resources for the development of the given constituency. Critics of the constituency councils have dismissed them as another political arm of the governing DLP. However, in the estimation of Blackett they have helped many people over the last decade, especially through the David Thompson Memorial Football Classic, which he said provided job opportunities during the tournament for many small operators, including those with food stalls. (BT)

MOTTLEY: YOU WILL WALK WITH DIGNITY – Barbados will not be turned around overnight, but the Barbados Labour Party is certain that it will make things better. BLP leader Mia Mottley gave that commitment to St. Thomas voters tonight during a meeting at Welchman Hall. Mottley said the BLP was certain that it could do a far better job than the Democratic Labour Party. "We need to make sure that we have a working majority that will allow us to make the decisions that will make your life better as fast as we can," she said. "It's not going to be easy overnight but it will get there. And we have come to tell you that you may not get exactly what you want when you want, how you want, but what I can assure you of is that we will make a better path for you." She added: "This Barbados Labour Party is committed to turning this country around to giving you that chance at a better life for you. "It may not allow you to run like [Usain] Bolt in two or three years, but we will allow you to walk like men and women with dignity." Mottley urged constituents to re-elect her "best friend" Cynthia Forde in next Thursday's general election. She said Forde had worked hard on behalf of St. Thomas residents. (WN)

‘DEES REFUSED TO SPEND A SINGLE CENT IN ST JAMES NORTH’ – “That is the attitude of a Government that has told me – three ministers – that they’re not spending one single cent in St James North, or on anybody in St James North. They kept their promise,” Hinkson said. “Just because St James North does not vote DLP a position was taken by this Government that they will not spend any money in St James North,” he added. To back his claim Hinkson cited as an example an elderly gentleman for whom he had sought housing assistance. He said years of persistence led to nothing, and the man died without ever getting help. “From the time I became a Member of Parliament I had been writing various Government ministries asking for assistance in terms of building him a home as is the right of any Barbadian,” the incumbent said. The BLP has dominated the St James North seat since it was created in 1981, losing just once, in 1986 when the DLP swept the polls with a 24 to three result in the then 27-member Parliament. Hinkson last night complained that in response to a letter of appeal to Minister of Transport and Works Michael Lashley for badly needed road repairs in 2015, he was told that the roads needed too much work. He also said key ministries and state agencies such as the Ministry of Housing, the Rural Development Commission, the Ministry of Social Care and the National Assistance Board were equally dismissive “just because it is in St James North”. (BT)

PAUL DEMANDS AN APOLOGY FROM BLP OPPONENT – Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate for St Michael West Central James Paul is accusing the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) of engaging in bullying tactics in the lead up to next week’s general election. In fact, Paul is now demanding an apology from his political opponent Ian Gooding-Edghill, who he said recently walked into his constituency office uninvited, declaring, “this is war”. “That is what he said. He said those inflammatory words and he cannot deny it,” the DLP incumbent told Barbados TODAY in relating the incident, which he said left him feeling threatened. “Politics is not a war. When you make those type of inflammatory comments in circumstances like these, what example are you sending out there?” the DLP candidate questioned, while stating that it was not the type of political behaviour he was accustomed to. “In the environment that we are in yes, I feel threatened. This is not necessary. I think that gentleman should immediately apologize for those comments.” Referring to the BLP’s party colour, Paul stated that “red is an intimating colour, so when you insert that language, it is intimating to people. But I don’t let anybody scare me, [even though] it makes me question what else will you do.” He also complained that one of his posters at the corner of Long Gap and Spooner’s Hill, St Michael was vandalized by opposition supporters. “I recognize there is vandalism creeping in. There was an attempt made on three nights, where the poster was first slashed, [then] they came back and further ripped it apart, so it made no sense having it there,” he told Barbados TODAY. The two-time parliamentary representative, who is seeking his third straight mandate from the people of St Michael West Central, made it clear that he had advised his supporters not to indulge in vandalism. “I told persons who are with me and my campaign not to do anything to antagonize the other persons. We have not interfered with them. What I find unfortunate is some of the comments coming as well. When we put up posters they tried to put theirs over ours and we have not done that. If my people were to do that, I would say that is not necessary. “That behaviour is something we should not tolerate in politics today. Candidates need to be more responsible in their behaviour and understand that they cannot say these things,” Paul stressed, while calling for a peaceful election last lap. “Whoever wins or loses we have to be part of this country. Let us not go and inflame passions. I want us to have a good campaign, but I am not willing to tolerate vandalism because we do not know where that will lead. “Let us come together, we have become public figures and people are watching us.” When contacted for comment on the claims, Gooding-Edghill requested a copy of the audio recording of Paul’s interview, which was submitted to him. However, despite repeated calls to him, he is yet to offer a response. (BT)

JEALOUS BEES –The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate for St Michael North East Patrick Todd has attributed a recent increase in visitor arrivals from the United States to the presence of the Sandals hotel group on the island. Addressing a DLP meeting at Bank Hall last evening, Todd stopped short of providing any statistical evidence of this, but was adamant that Government’s relationship with the Gordon Butch Stewart led group has been good for Barbados. In fact, he told party supporters that the only reason the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) has been criticizing the concessions granted to the Sandals hotel group was because it was “jealous of what we have accomplished with that hotel chain”. “The BLP is jealous of what we have done with Sandals because they did nothing to get Sandals started when they purchased Paradise Beach Hotel in the early 1990s,” Todd charged, adding that “the concessions we gave them have benefited both sides, not only with their investments at the former Casuarina Hotel and Almond Beach Village, but they have given us millions of dollars in free advertising when they advertise their properties in the international media”. After the Sandals deal for Paradise Beach Hotel fell through, the Four Seasons group purchased the property and started a major project there, but it was abandoned following the global economic recession in 2008, and attempts to resuscitate it have been unsuccessful to date. Todd, the former DLP representative for the City of Bridgetown, who will be going up against the BLP’s leader Mia Mottley this time around, also touted the island’s tourism performance over the past five years. While suggesting that Sandals should take its share of credit for the recent growth, Todd noted that the Jamaican-led company had just sent in an application to the Town and Country Planning Department for the transformation of the Almond Beach Village property in St Peter into one of their Beaches resorts. He also gave an update on the Sam Lord’s Castle project in St Philip, explaining that “we financed this [project] through a low interest loan from the Chinese government, and Barbadian contractors are doing at least 40 per cent of the work there, as opposed to former projects with the Chinese where the workforce was predominantly from that country. “Once that project is completed, we will also see some benefits coming to businesses in that part of the country as they interact with visitors and the local people working at the property,” he said. The St Michael North East candidate also pointed out that the multi million dollar Hyatt development slated for Bay Street remained stalled on account of legal action, “hampering people in The City from getting jobs”. However, he promised that “once that gets under way, along with the other hotels and convention centres we have planned for the Carlisle Bay and Needham’s Point areas, we will see Bridgetown prosper. In fact, we will have so many people working that the percentage of unemployment on the island will be in the single digit range,” he asserted. (BT)

FEW HICCUPS – It was generally smooth sailing today as police officers and other Election Day workers filed in and out of 30 polling stations spread across the island’s 30 constituencies today to cast their ballots, ahead for the May 24 poll. From as early as 7 a.m., Election Day workers were seen filing in and out of polling stations with little to no fuss. However, there were a few hiccups at the Trents Community Centre where Returning Officer Marcia Graham confirmed that a few people had turned up only to find out that their names were not on the list of 120 registered voters for St James Central, due to changes of address. In Christ Church West Central the process was much more smooth, with Returning Officer Walter Jones describing today’s voting process in the southern riding where there were 76 people down to cast ballots, as generally incident-free. Over in Christ Church East there was a “steady flow” of voters in and out of the polling station with Returning Officer Allan Archer reporting that a total of 120 Election Day workers were eligible to vote by the close of the poll at 5 p.m. At the Valley Resource Centre several police officers patiently stood in line waiting to cast their ballots in the St George North constituency, while at the Duncan C Moore Educational Centre, located in the annex of the Sharon Moravian Church, St Thomas, there was a steady stream of persons coming in to cast their ballots. By the time Barbados TODAY arrived there, Returning Officer Hallcourt Bovell reported that just over 54 of the 134 people registered had already voted, with no major hiccups occurring. Over in the constituency of St James South at Caribbean Meteorological Institute, Husbands, St James Returning Officer Charles Phillips said the process was also smooth. “No hiccups, there was a steady stream after seven o’clock and then there was a heavy stream around ten o’clock,” said Charles who was expecting a 75 per cent turnout today. However, activity was much slower at the Sion Hill Community Centre in St James with Returning Officer Anthony Greaves reporting that 108 persons registered there had been trickling in to cast their ballots. In St Michael, where close to 800 people were registered to cast votes across 11 polling stations, things were relatively quiet with voters trickling in to mark their X. Polling clerks described the start to the voting process as steady, with some reporting that majority of the voting took place in the morning. (BT)

ESTWICK’S MOTHER PASSES AWAY– In the midst of a hectic campaign for re-election, Minister of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Water Resource Management Dr David Estwick has been thrown into a state of mourning. Estwick is grieving the death yesterday of his mother, Ernesta Bowman, who was said to be in her 80s. Her death comes at the height of campaigning by Estwick’s Democratic Labour Party (DLP) for a third straight term in office, with general elections due here next Thursday. However, the firebrand politician was still present on stage for tonight’s DLP manifesto launch at Oistins, Christ Church. Estwick lost his father early in his life and his brother Tyrone Estwick, a former Minister of Education and Culture and attorney at law, died on June 5, 2010. (BT)

PROHIBITED DEVICES AT POLLING STATION – Voters are reminded that the use of all communication devices, such as smart phones, smart watches and smart pens, is prohibited in the polling station on polling day. According to the Supervisor of Elections, Angela Taylor, communication devices and all other personal effects must be left at the desk before proceeding to the polling booth. Taylor stated that voters must retrieve their personal effects on the way out, after they had marked their ballot and completed voting. She also reminded voters that on election day, Thursday, May 24, the polling booth would now be positioned so each voter enters with his or her back to the Presiding Officer. She explained that this change would allow the Presiding Officer to see that voters were not using any concealed electronic communication devices. She gave the assurance that privacy and the secrecy of the vote would be upheld. (BGIS)

SOME POLYCLINICS TO CLOSE ON ELECTION DAY - The public is advised that a number of polyclinics will be used as polling stations on Election Day, Thursday, May 24. As a result, medical services at these facilities will be suspended from midday, Wednesday, May 23, and all day on Election Day. They are the Glebe Polyclinic, Glebe Land, St George; Eunice Gibson Polyclinic, Warrens, St Michael; Edgar Cochrane Polyclinic, Wildey, St Michael; the St Thomas Out-Patients Clinic, Gordon Cummins Hospital, Rock Hall, St Thomas; and the Randal Phillips Polyclinic, Oistins, Christ Church. The other five polyclinics will remain open during this period. They are Maurice Byer, Station Hill, St Peter; Winston Scott, Ladymeade Gardens, St Michael; St Phillip, Six Roads, St Philip; Branford Taitt, Black Rock, St Michael; and the David Thompson Health and Social Services Complex, Glebe Land, St John. (WN)

TRANSPORT BOARD PROBING BUS VIDEO – The state-owned Transport Board has started an investigation into a video which went viral on social media yesterday. The video, disseminated and shared numerous times on WhatsApp, appears to show commuters on a Transport Board bus with a huge opening in the back of the vehicle, with the chassis visible as the road rushes by underneath. Transport Board’s corporate communications specialist Lynda Holder told the WEEKEND NATION the Board was in receipt of the video, and would immediately investigate, before making an official statement. (WN)

WOMAN RUSHED TO QEH FOLLOWING CAR ACCIDENT – A two-vehicle smash-up along Bayfield, St Philip has left two drivers injured. Petra Bishop of College Savannah, St John was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Thursday night after complaining of pain to her neck, chest and left hand. The other driver, Neco Clarke of Lyders Hill, St Philip, reported no serious injuries but complained of leg pain. The collision occurred around 8:15 p.m. (WN)

COURT SHIFTS CASES OF QC’S CLIENT – Magistrate Graveney Bannister will no longer be presiding over matters involving Pedro Burgess, the accused whom attorney Andrew Pilgrim QC was representing when he clashed with the court. It was exactly a month ago that the attorney, who was in the Bridgetown Traffic Court, uttered an expletive to the magistrate before storming out of the court after prosecutor Sergeant Vernon Waithe had said the files relating to Burgess were before the Commissioner of Police. Burgess, 31, of Baycroft New Road, Bridge Road, St Michael, was accused of six charges – three of entering the homes of women with intent to commit theft, and three of entering women’s homes with intent to commit indecent assault. The matters allegedly occurred between November 13, 2017, and March 13, this year. The magistrate had ordered the prosecution to have the files ready by April 27 or the charges would be dismissed. However, when attorney Kamesha Benjamin appeared for Burgess yesterday morning, Bannister transferred the matters to Court No. 1. Benjamin had asked for the matters to be stood down for a few minutes, when the magistrate made his decision. “Are you holding for someone? Because I am not minded to deal with the matter,” he said before transferring the matters for June 7. Pilgrim gave an apology in open court three days after his outburst, and it was accepted by the magistrate. Almost two weeks after the senior attorney’s outburst, Magistrate Bannister filed an affidavit, through his lawyer, before the Disciplinary Committee of the Barbados Bar Association for action against Pilgrim. A source close to the situation told the Weekend Nation yesterday Pilgrim was yet to be served. (WN)

COUPLE ORDERED TO KEEP THE PEACE – For wasting the police and the court’s time, a couple has been placed on a bond to keep the peace for the next year. Dale Honley Rowe and his girlfriend Shon-Lyn Callender will have to stay out of trouble for the next 12 months, otherwise they will have to pay $1,500 forthwith or spend three months in jail. Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant handed down the sentence in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court today after Rowe, 25, of Hallets Crescent, Brighton, Black Rock, St Michael, pleaded not guilty to assaulting Callender on May 13, 2018. However, Callender told the magistrate she was no longer interested in pursuing the matter. “I was upset and embarrassed, that’s why I went to the police. But since then we have sat down and worked things out, so I don’t want to continue with the case,” she said. The magistrate cautioned her that she could not expect to waste the police’s time, especially during the hectic election season. “Don’t make frivolous reports to the police. The police have a lot of work to do, especially as it is elections,” she said, before handing down her ruling. (BT)

YEARWOOD TO PAY $2,000 IN TWO MONTHS – Albert Peter Yearwood ran when he saw police outside of his home, but he couldn’t run from four drug charges when he appeared in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court today. After pleading guilty to the charges of possession, trafficking, and cultivation of cannabis with intent to supply on January 20, 2018, the 55-year-old, of 2nd Avenue, Garden Land, Country Road, St Michael, was ordered by Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant to pay the court $2, 000 by July 19. Failure to do so will result in a 12-month prison term. The fine was attached to the cultivation charge. However, Yearwood was convicted, reprimanded and discharged for the other offences. He explained that he had grown the illegal drugs because he needed money. “I was wrong and I am asking for leniency from the court. I did it because I’m not working and money was coming in slow because all I do is some baking,” the accused said. When he was initially asked how long he would need to pay the fine, he said a lengthy period. “That would take me about two years on my salary. I only bake bread,” Yearwood said, before asking for six months. “I will give you two months,” was the magistrate’s reply. The court heard from prosecutor Sergeant Cameron Gibbons that when police executed a warrant at Yearwood’s home on January 20, he was at the front of his residence but ran away. The warrant was executed in his absence and 11 cannabis plants, ranging in height from two to eight inches, were found. Another warrant was executed at his home on May 15, but nothing illegal was found. Yearwood was subsequently held by police and questioned in relation to the January 20 warrant. “I was home and I heard a sound and look up and see the police and I run because I know I had marijuana trees,” he said. The drugs weighed 122 grammes and had a street value of $610. (BT)

88 CONVICTIONS – At age 58, Mackleton Dacosta Wood racked up his 88th conviction today.

However, it will be at least another 18 months before he will get an opportunity to add to that tally since he will be behind bars. Wood admitted before Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant to stealing four bottles of wine, valued $127.05 belonging to D.H.B Holdings on May 16, 2018, but his pleas for leniency from the magistrate fell on deaf ears. “I’m begging for some help. I have a drug problem,” Wood told the court. However, Cuffy-Sargeant pointed out to him that he had been given several chances to clean up his habit. Holding up several conviction cards strung together, she said he had recorded his first conviction in 1985 and was still getting into trouble up to this day. Of his previous 87 convictions, 84 were for theft. To make matters worse, Wood said he had only been released from prison last month. “This is less about the value of the items you stole and more about your age. Your history goes back to 1985 and you have been given many chances,” Cuffy-Sargeant said. When she told him he would be spending 24 months at HMP Dodds, Wood exclaimed: “Who? Two years?” It led the magistrate to deduct six months from the initial sentence. The court had heard from prosecutor Sergeant Cameron Gibbons that around 2:50 p.m. yesterday the accused entered the Sol Service Station in Bay Street, St Michael, went to the wine chiller, took out three bottles of wine and placed them in a bag he was carrying. He then went to the fridge, took up another, placed it in his waist and proceeded to leave. When he realized he was being followed by staff he dropped the bag containing the wines, breaking two of the bottles. After he ran away, he was spotted by police in the area of the Garrison Savannah and was held. While being searched, police found the third bottle of wine. “I take it from Sol Service Station,” was his response when asked to account for it. (BT)

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