Resident Magistrate Andrea Thomas has ordered a warrant for the investigating officer involved in a case of alleged lottery scamming in which several members of one family in Brown’s Town, St. Ann were arrested and charged. The investigating officer who is assigned to the Lotto Scam task force was not present in court when the matter came up for mention on Friday, September 12, in the St Ann’s Bay Resident Magistrates court. The RM ordered the warrant, after she made enquiries of the status of the case file, and was told that here were no statements on the file. The parties first appeared before the court in June. Those charged are 47-year-old Robert Hodges Snr and his wife, 50-year-old Sonia Green Hodges, 25-year-old Robert Hodges Jnr, 29-year-old Damion Davidson, 23-year-old Devar Hodges, 18-year-old Krysten Hodges, 29-year-old Simone Walker and a 17-year-old male.
RM STUNNED
They are reportedly all from Trysee in Brown’s Town. The accused persons were arrested on June 13, following a special operation led by a team from the Lottery Scam Task Force and members of the Area Two Operational Support Team. In court on Friday, the magistrate was told that there were no statements on the file. This stunned RM Thomas who instructed that checks be made with clerk of court to determine the status of the case file. The magistrate was told later that statements had not been provided by the investigating officer. The investigating officer, a sergeant of police, was not at court to provide any details into the matter. The court liaison officer could provide no details either.
The RM questioned how the file came to be before the court without statements, pointing out that it should never have been accepted without the required statements. She also questioned how the allegations were outlined to the court for bail to have been considered for the accused persons. The court heard that it was the investigating officer who outlined the allegations to the court when the matter was first mentioned in June. Another date was set for the completion of the file and for the necessary statements to be provided. Bail had first been refused for some of those charged as the officer had claimed they could get access to computers and thus affect the case. “There should not have been a file without statements,” RM Thomas told the court, noting that the absence of statements was only just being brought to her attention.
“I am ordering a warrant for the investigating officer,” she said. Six of the accused are represented by attorney at law Oswest Senior Smith. Ernest Smith represents another while the eighth is represented by Montego Bay-based lawyer Kenneth McLeod. All the accused had their bail extended. They are to return to court on October 17, when the case will again be mentioned.
