Man freed of robbery, fraud charges

WESTERN BUREAU:

A St James man charged for several cases of larceny and fraud, dating back to 2008, was freed of the charges when he appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Monday.

Damion Francis, charged with at least three counts of simple larceny and two counts of conspiracy to defraud, was freed after a no-evidence motion was made by the prosecution in his matter.

The allegations against Francis were that on September 23, 2008, he robbed a man of $15,000, and also conspired with others to defraud the same complainant of monies amounting to $173,000.

It was also alleged that on October 2 that year, Francis had robbed another complainant of monies amounting to $14,000, and also conspired to defraud monies amounting to more than $1 million. Francis was also said to have robbed a third complainant of $9,000.

When Francis' matters were mentioned on Monday, the court was told that the prosecution witnesses had never attended court despite several previous dates being set for trial.

As a result, a no-evidence submission was made by the prosecution, following which Resident Magistrate Sandria Wong-Small allowed Francis to leave the courtroom.