The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE Court of Appeal yesterday quashed the conviction of a contractor found guilty of stealing electricity from the Bahamas Electricity Corporation.

The decision of Justices Anita Allen, Neville Adderley and Jon Isaacs came three months after former Bahamas Contractor’s Association president, Stephen Wrinkle, contested the magistrate’s ruling from January 2013.

Wrinkle has been on $2,000 bail for two years while awaiting the hearing of his appeal.

Justice Isaacs, who announced the court’s ruling on the matter, said the appeal was allowed because “we’re satisfied that the element of dishonesty was not made out … the crucial element of the charge”.

The judge noted that the panel’s reasons were set out in the judgment. However, the ruling was not available up to press time yesterday.

Wrinkle had been fined $1,000 and sentenced to a year in prison for dishonest consumption of electricity after being told that his actions between February and March 2011 were “inexcusable”.

Prosecutors alleged that he stole power for the Bayparl Building, Parliament Street, which he managed for Parliament Properties Ltd. Wrinkle had maintained his innocence from his arraignment in June 2011 to his conviction in January 2013.

At the substantive hearing in February, Wrinkle’s lawyer, Murrio Ducille, argued that the trial magistrate erred in law in allowing his client to answer to the charge, notwithstanding the Crown’s failure to establish sufficient evidence to mount the charge.

He further informed the court that there was a dispute over outstanding balances and consumption on the two meters, which led BEC to address a letter to Mr Wrinkle, notwithstanding that he did not own the building.

Crown respondent Anthony Delaney had told the court that the two meters were not registered to BEC where power was being consumed. And though he conceded that BEC did install the meters, he added that negligence did not make stealing electricity right.