By Latrishka Thomas
A man has been fined $500 for breaking the mandatory curfew of 6pm-5am.
On Sunday at around 4.30am, officers patrolling All Saints Road in a marked police vehicle with the revolving lights on observed a car reversing into a parking lot in Briggins.
Officers saw the 42-year-old Cashew Hill man hop out of the vehicle, over a fence and run off into nearby bushes.
But when they searched the area, they were unable to find him.
A few minutes later he emerged from the bushes and went to his vehicle.
An officer approached him and identified himself before asking him if he was aware of the curfew.
He was informed that he was breaking the law and he said “I got frightened and ran, forgetting I have a pass”.
The defendant presented the pass but upon examination it was noticed that it was not stamped or signed by the Commissioner of Police and was therefore invalid.
As a consequence, he was taken into custody and charged.
In the St John’s Magistrates’ court yesterday, the man admitted to the crime and the prosecutors presented the letter on Ace Enterprises letterhead to the court.
The man, who is employed by Rubis, explained that at the time he was heading to pick up his partner to take her to work at the Ace Enterprises gas station.
The magistrate confirmed that the pass was invalid and therefore fined the man $500 with a default prison time of one month.