Identity confusion in court

There was some confusion in the St James Parish Court recently over the true identity of a man who appeared before the court for possessing a counterfeit note.

Balvin Spence, who was arrested on December 8, 2017, after he was allegedly found in possession of a fake J$1,000 note inside an envelope, had to wait several minutes while his attorney, Henry McCurdy, tried to assist the court in sorting out whether the defendant's first name was Balvin or Alvin.

"I have the name 'Balvin' on record," McCurdy told presiding judge Sandria Wong-Small.

"I don't care what you have, because there is an issue being raised about what his correct name is, so he is going to have to produce some identification," Wong-Small replied.

"His birth certificate was brought to court previously," McCurdy insisted.

It was subsequently clarified that when Spence was previously brought before the court, his name was recorded as Alvin Spence, but the first name had been crossed out and then corrected as Balvin.

After the confusion was cleared up, the court was told that a question-and-answer document will be brought as an exhibit in Spence's upcoming trial and that one witness will testify for the prosecution.

Spence then had his bail extended until May 29, when he will stand trial.