Woman turns up at court using different name

A woman who turned up at the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court yesterday to answer to fraud charges shocked the judge as she appeared under a different name from the last time she was on trial.

Chief Parish Judge Chester Crooks immediately recognised the accused, Shanalee Richards, shortly after she entered the dock after being charged for obtaining money by means of false pretence. He was left shocked after the attorney representing Richards indicated that she was before the court for a similar offence last year. However, she appeared before the judge under the name Kimesha Hartley. Crooks recommended that her case be transferred as she is in "habitual offender territory".

"I am going to ask for her records and depending on what turns up, you need to liaise with the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions'] office to see if her matter can be taken downtown, where she can be sentenced to a maximum of 15 years. So she comes before me with two different names that I do not know and she is much lighter in complexion than the last time I saw her," the judge said. Richards, 36, was made the subject of a fingerprint order and was remanded in custody until June 7.

On her latest charge, it is alleged that on April 8, the complainant handed over $90,000 to Richards as payment for an apartment on Oxford Road in St Andrew. Richards indicated that the apartment was being rented for $45,000 a month but the complainant did not receive the keys. Richards eventually stopped accepting her calls. On April 24, the complainant saw the same apartment being advertised for rent and visited it a day later. She allegedly saw Richards and demanded a refund, which she has not received to date. - T.T.