Accused fraudster walks free

WESTERN BUREAU:

A Kingston man had several fraud charges against him dismissed in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday after the complainant chose to discontinue the matter.

Dino Thomas, whose address was listed as Papua Avenue in Patrick City, Kingston, was charged with obtaining goods by false pretence and uttering a forged document. It is said that the charges stemmed from an incident at the Genesis Jewellery Store at the Secrets Resort and Spa in Montego Bay.

It was alleged that on May 18, Thomas used a National Commercial Bank (NCB) visa credit card to purchase two watches and two diamond rings, valued at US$6,700, from the jewellery store. However, certain discrepancies were noticed on the bank card, and when contacted, NCB advised that the card was fraudulent.

A report was made to the Area One Fraud Squad, and on May 23, the defendant was pointed out at the police station by the store clerk, Sanjae Persuani. Formal charges were levelled against Thomas the following day.

When the case was mentioned on Tuesday, Persuani indicated to the court that he no longer wished to proceed with the case against Thomas. A no-evidence motion on both charges was subsequently entered for the defendant.

In the meantime, the court was advised that a bank statement from NCB in a separate fraud matter against Thomas was still outstanding.

"The investigating officer told me that he was getting the runaround from the bank representative, so I asked him for the name of the person," clerk of the court Natalie Malcolm told Resident Magistrate Sandria Wong-Small.

"He (the officer) doesn't wish for a subpoena at this time. He will make another attempt to contact the person," Malcolm added.

The matter was subsequently set for mention on October 18.

'The investigating officer told me that he was getting the runaround from the bank representative, so I asked him for the name of the person.'