Tickets, monitors keep courts busy over holidays

A magistrate has reminded traffic offenders that a ticket is a summons to attend court if it is not paid and those who fail to pay risk arrest. 

Magistrate Valdis Foldats pointed out during a Summary Court hearing last week that “by not paying, you risk being arrested in front of your family and friends or co-workers.” 

Summary Court was in session on four days during Christmas week and into the New Year holiday. Apart from a Boxing Day burglary, the matters that came to court were not new. 

Either Magistrate Foldats or Kirsty-Ann Gunn, presiding on the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas and the Friday and Monday afterward, dealt largely with people who had failed to pay traffic tickets before the date stated. 

Another category of cases involved defendants who were previously granted bail with conditions that included the wearing of an electronic monitoring device, commonly referred to as an ankle bracelet. 

Magistrate Foldats expressed some sympathy for people who had to pay tickets for traffic offenses so near to Christmas, “but that’s what happens when you break the law,” he said. 

One man said he was off-island on the date the ticket was due to be paid; he had asked a friend to pay it for him, but that person had failed to do so. 

Two people who appeared before Magistrate Gunn said they were there to pay for a friend or relative who was off-island. The magistrate accepted this explanation and did not impose any further penalty. 

However, when two people indicated that they had not paid because they forgot, she asked if there was any reason why they should not pay a contribution to the cost of issuing a summons for their arrest. With no reason given, she imposed a $25 penalty in addition to the $100 ticket. 

One young man on therapeutic remand was released on Dec. 23, but ordered to report back on Friday, Dec. 27, so that the court could be aware of how he was doing. He had used ganja while on bail and had failed to keep the battery charged on his electronic monitor. “You are on final warning,” Magistrate Gunn told him. She said the court would check with the 911 officers about tracking his monitor while his bail was continued until Jan. 7. 

Another monitored defendant, who was not scheduled to attend court, did so because his landlord had asked him to move. Defense attorney John Furniss explained that some landlords and their tenants get upset when police officers come around at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. to check on monitored individuals. 

Defendants who have a “doorstep condition” are required to present themselves when an officer knocks on the door, he explained later. The arrival of a police car in the yard followed by the knocking or ringing of a doorbell can be disturbing, Mr. Furniss acknowledged, especially when it happens more than once over a short period. 

He advised the court that his client had found a new place to reside, he had a receipt for the January rent and the landlord was aware of his situation. 

A probation officer verified the address and said it was satisfactory. Magistrate Gunn then varied the man’s bail to allow the move, with monitoring authorities being informed of the new address. 

Another defendant, whose job temporarily requires him to be on the road at odd hours of the night, came to court several times during the week to seek a variation of his 10 p.m. curfew. He was told to produce a note from his employer and did so, returning at least twice more for permission to be out until 3 a.m. 

Magistrate Foldats praised him for his patience and for “working with the system” to get what he needed. As a reinforcement for this positive behavior, the magistrate released him from further court attendance until late January, with the proviso that he notify Central Police Station before 10 p.m. any night that he works late. 

Traffic ticket is summons  

A traffic ticket states: “You are summoned to appear in Summary Court at (time) on (date) or in the alternative produce this ticket to the Clerk of Court at any time during office hours before the above date and pay to the Clerk of Court the sum of (money) in respect of the following offenses committed by you.” 

A person who does not agree that he or she committed any offense comes to court on the day specified, enters a not guilty plea and has a trial date set.