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Jemark "Parch Nuts" Jackson. (iWN file photo)
Jemark “Parch Nuts” Jackson. (iWN file photo)
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A man accused of handling stolen goods walked out of the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court a free man on Monday without uttering a word in his defence, because of sloppy policing.

Campden Park resident Jemark “Parch Nuts” Jackson, 25, was freed of the handling stolen goods charge against him even before the virtual complainant had completed his testimony.

Jackson — who made national headlines a decade ago when police beat him into a coma — was being tried on a charge that he handled items stolen from fellow villager, Terrance Williams.

However, prosecutor Sergeant of Police Renrick Cato was forced to withdraw the charge against Jackson after Williams told the court that police had only asked him on the day of the trial to initial the item that had been recovered in October.

Williams told the court that he knows the defendant well because Jackson is a friend of his brother and frequents his home.

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Williams, who is self-employed, told the court that he orders items online and sells them in Kingstown.

He stores his merchandise in his bedroom and living room at his home.

The merchandise includes smart watches, smart bracelets, and computers.

He said he checked his stocks on the night of Oct. 9, 2018, when he was preparing to go to Grenada and realised a number of items were missing.

A more thorough check on Oct. 10, revealed that while the watch boxes were packed as Williams had done them originally, several of the watches were missing from the individual boxes.

Terrance Williams
The virtual complainant, Terrance Williams. (iWN photo)

Also, a number of analog watches, smart bracelets and one computer were missing, in addition to a number of small items that were of negligible value.

As Williams was scheduled to travel to Grenada that day until Oct. 14, he made a post on Facebook, urging persons not to buy smart watches without the box, because they are stolen.

While in Grenada, William received certain information through Facebook that eventually led to Jackson.

When he returned to St. Vincent, Jackson attempted to return some of the items to Williams who reported it to the Questelles Police Station.

At the police station, sometime around Oct. 17, Williams identified several smart watches, one smart bracelet, a couple of analog watches, and the laptop as belonging to him.

However, the investigator never asked him to place his initial on the items until Monday — the day of the trial — a fact that Williams revealed in his evidence-in-chief.

Asked how he was able to identify the smart watches, Williams said they are not abundant in St. Vincent and he is one of the few persons who import then.

He said that they have no distinguishing marks but he would be able to identify them by their colour and appearance.

Responding to further questions from the prosecutor, Williams said that the police officer investigating the matter asked him the morning of the trial to place his initials on the items.

“Ahhh. There we go. This morning. They police did not do what they should have done from day one,” Senior Magistrate Rickie Burnett said

He added: “Realising the error they tried to cover it.”

In response, Cato said, “My hands are tied.”

The prosecutor then sat down.

However, the magistrate told him that he had to do or say something, but could not just sit down.

Cato, however, told the court the offence has to do with exhibits, noting that the charge was handling stolen goods, allegedly Williams’ property.

He said that while Williams had gone to the station to identify the property, the police had not followed the appropriate steps.

“I am waiting on you, prosecutor,” the senior magistrate said, adding, “You have to handle matters that you have in front of you.”

Renwick Cato
Prosecutor Sergeant Renwick Cato was left no choice but to withdraw the charge. (iWN photo)

Cato tried another route, asking Williams what colours were the smart watches.

“They were black, silver, and gold. I initially said that one was white but the white one was not there,” Williams responded.

Cato then asked Williams how do the watches operate and he responded, “They are basically a phone on your hand”.

“Your honour, I–” Cato said then paused.

“Prosecutor, why are your punishing yourself? You are prosecuting the matter,” Burnett told Cato.

Cato told the court that had Jackson been charged with unlawful possession he could have had more options, but noted that the charge is handling stolen goods.

The prosecutor, however, proceeded to make an application to show the watches to the virtual complainant, based on the colours he had mentioned.

The magistrate, however, noted that the colours are universal and there is nothing special about them.

The prosecution again asked if the court was not granting the application to show the watches to the witness.

“No. He has not given enough features. The most important thing that should have been done from day one was not done. You know that as well,” the magistrate said.

At this point, Cato withdrew the charge against Jackson.

At this point, the magistrate said, “Mr. Jackson, because of bad policing, that’s what it was, the matter has come to an end.”

7 replies on “Accused walks as sloppy policing ties prosecutor’s hands”

  1. Yet again, incompetence and justice is denied.

    When will the LPA and any other legal instrument that holds not only lawyers but all officers of the court accountable for their action or inactions be enforced? Most of our Caribbean neighbors have the LPA enacted? What is SVG waiting on?

    This is just a travesty!

  2. Concerned Citizen says:

    The SVG Police are poorly trained. They spend more time on teaching them to look good in thier uniform and walk with straight posture than they do training them in good policing. The fact that they have to beat people while in custody shows that they are very poorly trained and cowardly. Using the uniform to protect them from perpetrators defending themselves shows us how cowardly they are. They think it is good to copy the Israelis and some of the bad eggs in the USA. We all hope that one day the politics can be removed from the SVG Police so that we can have a National Security we can be proud of instead of these poorly-trained, cowardly bullys.
    Any informed person can find out that certain “chosen ones” get the promotions, depending on politics and bloodline. NOT ON PERFORMANCE!
    Imagine a certain poorly-trained officer getting awards and promoted because of bloodline and “set-up” incidents and arrests designed to make them “look good”. If that ever happened we would all know why we have such incompetence in our police force. If it involved drugs, we would wonder how the drugs were attained. We would wonder if it would be part of the drugs missing from the evidence room or we would be afraid that some of the police have connections to the illegal drug trade. Let us hope that it never gets that far.

  3. Rawlston Pompey says:

    TRIPLETS OF EMBARRASSMENT

    Well, a prosecutor to learn as he goes along. However, still believe that only ‘…competent prosecutors,’ should be assigned Court prosecutorial duties, particularly, appearing before a Senior Magistrate such as Rickie Burnett.

    The detailed graphic by this clearly ‘…meticulous reporter,’ left very little to the imagination.

    Not only in pregnancies, there are ‘…Triplets,’ they also come in ‘…embarrassment’ as well.

    Firstly, was the serious omission by the investigator in causing the Virtual Complainant to affix his initials for identification of the recovered property.

    Secondly, the prosecutor who would have had the Case File to prepare himself for the prosecution, appeared not to have perused the File sufficiently before he went to Court.

    Thirdly, the prosecutor appeared not to have had a clue. He appeared lost for words, and did not know what to do.

    With no intention to dictate a particular course of action or how a prosecutor may ‘…swim out of deep prosecutorial waters,’ the Senior Magistrate rightly nudged him with a simple question ‘…Prosecutor why are you punishing yourself?’

    Since the integrity of the ‘…exhibits’ would have caused ‘…reasonable doubts,’ he may have taken the cue from the Senior Magistrate.

    Much needed ‘…On the job training appeared needed. He should be sitting alongside his superior and senior prosecutor Adolphus Delpesche.
    .

  4. Even though some officers are poorly trained…acco According to how long they are in the force.. They should be able to learn more along the way..common sense must kick in.. They believed that they already have the job so they do it any how and expected to get away with it..And as to the accused…Watch him with cross eyes..

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