Two news items in today’s daily Nation newspaper (3 April 2024) drew the attention of the blogmaster. Rodney Wilkinson, bagman for for the late Prime Minister Owen Arthur, was finally ruled to face a jury trial to defend 41 counts of fraud, TEN years after he was charged.
See report:
Fraud accused to stand trial on 41 counts
BUSINESSMAN Rodney Levi Wilkinson had 26 of his fraud charges dismissed when he appeared in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court.
However, almost ten years after Wilkinson, the former chief executive officer of Gems of Barbados and owner of two luxury vehicle businesses, made his first appearance in court, he was ordered to face judge and jury on the remaining 41 counts.
Wilkinson, now 69, of 2nd Avenue, Friendly Hall Development, Jackmans, St Michael, had been accused of 67 counts of dishonestly obtaining from Globe Finance, Nassco Finance, BET Cooperative Credit Union Ltd and the Barbados Public Workers Cooperative Credit Union, sums of money ranging from $7 000 to $117 500.
They were allegedly the proceeds of Bank of Nova Scotia and Republic Bank cheques, payable to Premier Pre-Owned Vehicles Inc. and Executive Rentals, with the intention of permanently depriving the financial institutions by falsely representing that he had lawful title and possession of vehicles like Nissan Moranto and Qashqai, Toyota Rav 4, Toyota Allion, Suzuki Grand Vitara, Toyota Hilux, Nissan X-Trail, Lexus, as well as Honda Civics and CRVs, and that he had lawful authority to deal with the sale of those vehicles.
The charges date from November 2012 to February 2014.
When Wilkinson reappeared in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court, Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes dismissed 16 of the charges because the prosecution did not have files for those matters.
However, he ordered Wilkinson to face judge and jury for the remaining 41.
Wilkinson was allowed to remain on bail pending his High Court appearance.
Nation Newspaper
The second matter: child abuse cases have been ‘quagmired’ in the Barbados court system for many years, one example cited, a case of abuse occurred when the victim was eight years old and at 25 years has to ‘relive’ the experience if she wants to pursue justice.
See report:
Court concern
Board unhappy with delays child victims face
THE CHILD CARE BOARD wants to see the end of victims of child abuse having to wait years for cases to be adjudicated in the criminal justice system.
Director RoseAnn Richards expressed this concern yesterday during a media briefing announcing the launch of the Child Care Board’s annual Month of Child Abuse and Prevention Awareness at the Warrens Office Complex, Warrens, St Michael.
“I would say that I am satisfied with the number of people that are being charged, but I am not satisfied with the length of time it takes for matters of child abuse to go through the court system,” she said.
Richards said she hoped that with the establishment of the new Family Court, more of these cases would be fast-tracked and dealt with more promptly.
“It looks really bad that something happens when a child is eight. She becomes an adult and at 25 she now has to answer (testify) because it can be emotionally devastating for her, something that happened 17 years ago. He or she now has to relive the same experience to get justice,” she added.
Chair of the National Committee on the Rights of the Child, Faith Marshall-Harris, said victims of child abuse cases were often denied their justice when they stand before a jury that no longer sees a child, but an adult giving testimony.
No longer a child
“I think an important thing to point out about those delays in those juvenile cases is that, in terms of justice, it’s denied, in the sense that the appearance of that child on the witness stand is no longer that of a child. “Therefore, a jury being only human will assess the situation based on what they see before them, so very often they do not get the justice they deserve,” said Marshall-Harris, a former magistrate.
The two child rights advocates were responding to questions from the media relating to data shared by Humphrey, who said from April 2021 to March 2022, there were 538 cases of child abuse affecting 667 children in Barbados.
Adding that some of these cases spiked after the pandemic, Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey said their aim was to reduce the overall cases of abuse in children.
This consists of awareness-based initiatives around abuse and prevention and include programmes around parenting, with collaboration from his ministry, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Youth Empowerment and the Child Care Board.
“When we speak of child abuse people always ask, what are the penalties? How are you going to enforce the legislation and those things? This is important, but if we could foster voluntary compliance, if we can get people educated to the point that they understand that there are certain things they should and should not do, that would serve us a lot better,” Humphrey said.
He further extended caution to parents on the chosen method of addressing cases of child abuse, especially when using social media.
“I know if a person is hurting, because they suspect that some incident occurred that has damaged their child, they would want to use social media as a tool to express their frustration.
“You also have to remember that in the new legislation, the Cybercrime Bill, it is an offence to be posting pictures of children, especially naked pictures of children, even if you’re trying to make a point. It will also be an offence in the new child protection legislation,” he said.
Humphrey urged parents to report such cases to the Child Care Board if they suspect abuse, but also warned about penalties for false reporting.
He also provided an update on the Child Protection Bill.
“If I had my way we would be debating that bill as the first bill when we return to Parliament on the 23rd of April. But it is my privilege to be able to give the children this new bill on child protection. Children deserve to be safe, there is no excuse.”
Let us protect them. That is essentially what the new Child Protection Bill is proposing and hopefully we would be able to pass that very very soon,” he said. (JRN)
Nation Newspaper
How can we describe ourselves as progressing as a people if the scales of justice always tilt out of balance?
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.