No mask results in $20,000 fine

A man who said he removed his mask because he had asthma was fined when he appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court last Thursday.

Rosean Young, who pleaded guilty to not wearing a mask, a breach of the Disaster Risk Management Act, explained to the court what happened on the day the police caught him without the mask.

"I was coming from the wholesale and was about to take a taxi. I had on the mask, but I have asthma and put it in my back pocket. But same time me a cross the road, the police dem jump out pon me and a ask me which part my mask deh. Me show dem seh it in my back pocket, and dem a tell me dem nuh want hear that and seh me fi jump up in the Jeep," Young said.

Senior Parish Judge Lori-Ann Cole-Montague told Young that if he had asthma, he could pull down the mask under his chin and take a deep breath rather than taking it off and placing it in his pocket. He was then fined $20,000 or face 30 days' imprisonment.

T.T.