The Tribune

By FARRAH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN who was caught driving around with a fraudulent license plate was fined $250 in court yesterday.

Walker Bazile, 35, appeared in Magistrates’ Court before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes after he was accused of using a fraudulent license plate on December 4.

The court heard officers were on patrol on Key West Street when they observed a group of males standing around a Honda vehicle.

The prosecution said when the officers attempted to approach the group, all of the men fled. Officers then gave chase and caught the accused, who identified himself as Walker Bazile. He was then taken to his black Honda Accord vehicle where officers contacted their control room to make checks of his license plate.

It was then that they discovered the license plate attached to Bazile’s car was reported lost. The accused was subsequently arrested and taken to the Grove Police Station. When he was questioned there, he told officers he bought his car from a man in Exuma and received the license plate from his neighbour. Bazile’s said he attached the plate to his car because he knew that he would not be able to drive it without one.

In response, Magistrate Forbes said he found it “troubling” that Bazile understood that he would not be able to drive a car without a license plate, but didn’t know that the license plate had to come from the Road Traffic Department. He subsequently fined Bazile $250 or two months in custody.