By Latrishka Thomas
An example was set yesterday when a man was fined $1,000 for transporting garbage in an uncovered truck, and the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) was told to ban him from the Cooks dump after he lied to the court.
Johnathan Santos of Kentish Road was ticketed by a litter warden who saw him transporting tyres without a covering as mandated by law.
Santos claimed that the vehicle was in fact covered and attempted to contest the ticket using a photo of the covered truck.
But his story did not quite add up.
Head of the Authority Daryl Spencer told the court that the man, during a conversation with him, claimed to have taken off the cover in the vicinity of Bruce’s Nightclub before turning into the landfill, but went on to say that it was covered when he was stopped.
However, the warden who ticketed him was stationed at a security booth leading to the access road for the Cooks Sanitary Landfill – approximately half a mile from the main road where the club is located.
Santos, when questioned by Chief Magistrate Joanne Walsh, then said that he did not remove the covering at all, and took a photo as proof because he was being ticketed.
He muttered allegations in Spanish, his first language, to an English translator claiming that the warden was prejudiced against Hispanics.
The Chief Magistrate believed that Santos was being dishonest and therefore fined him $1,000 which he must pay in a week or be confined to Her Majesty’s Prison for six months.