Robbery victim fined for breaching curfew

A Corporate Area man said that he had to run for his life, after being attacked by a group of cross-dressers after he stopped with one of them, thinking the person was a female.

The man, who was brought before the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court yesterday for breaching the curfew, under the Disaster Risk Management Act, said that the bizarre events unfolded shortly after he left the Bustamante Hospital for Children and was heading home.

According to Errol McNeish, he was driving along Knutsford Boulevard when he was signalled to stop by a 'female'. Having brought the vehicle to a halt, at 1 a.m., McNeish said that the person, who he found out was a cross-dresser, opened the car door. He said that the person was armed with a knife.

"The person dressed as a female and they led me around the Sagicor parking lot and said 'give me everything you have', and when I looked around, I see some other people rush down on me and start ransacking my car," McNeish shared.

Senior Parish Judge Lori-Ann Cole-Montague asked him to identify the gender of the individuals who swarmed him.

"They were all men, Your Honour. When they start ransacking my car, I had to run because they had machete, so I had to run," he said.

McNeish said he was assisted by a security guard, who recommended that he report the incident to the police in the vicinity. He said that when he went to the police station, lawmen there told him that he was breaching the Disaster Risk Management Act.

"He said he was going to charge me for breaching the curfew order because I am the reason why these persons were on the road. I was trying to explain to him that I was robbed and the police officer still proceed to do what he was doing," the man told the judge.

However, prosecutors, in disputing McNeish's claim, said that there was no evidence of him telling the police that he was heading home, having just left the hospital.

The judge told McNeish that she would exercise leniency if he could provide proof that he was coming from the hospital.

Cross-dressing males are known to frequent the section of New Kingston where McNeish was allegedly robbed.

"I call out the elephants as I see them in the room. one o'clock in the morning, Sagicor parking lot, New Kingston, I don't know any church that keep at those hours. You realise that it sounds a way, don't it? Even in terms of the time, it is very off, but if you bring something from the hospital, it will reduce the sentence," the judge said.

McNeish declined her offer, and accepted the sentence of breaching the curfew. He was fined $20,000- or three-months' imprisonment.