By FARRAH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
A HAITIAN man who defrauded a number of government agencies in an attempt to acquire legal status in the country was yesterday fined over $10,000 and sentenced to six months in prison.
The 31-year-old could serve an additional 12 months in custody if he fails to pay the hefty set of fines before the completion of his sentence.
Police said Paul Charles fraudulently obtained a police character reference form from the Criminal Records Office on February 3.
He also obtained a work permit from the Department of Immigration as well as an NIB smart card from National Insurance Board by means of false pretences that same day.
Charles also fraudulently obtained a learner’s permit from the Road Traffic Department in the name of Berdy Jean and attempting to obtain naturalisation under the same alias.
He was also found with a Haitian passport bearing the fake name.
After pleading guilty to the fraud related offences in a hearing before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt last week, Charles returned to court yesterday for sentencing.
Yesterday, his attorney K Melvin Munroe told the magistrate that although his client did not have status in the country at the moment, when he initially entered the country, he travelled here legally. Mr Munroe said Charles decided to move from Haiti because he was seeking a better way of life and wanted to assist his siblings who he had left behind in his home country. Noting the accused did not have a criminal history, he asked the court to use leniency when passing its judgement.
In response, Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt said she found Charles’ actions “egregious” since they “challenged the very thing that made a Bahamian a Bahamian”. She also noted that all of the country’s major government agencies were “assaulted” and questioned why the people who assisted Charles in defrauding the various departments had not been charged.
As a result, she convicted Charles of fraud by false pretences, attempted fraud by false pretences and possession of false documents and fined him an aggregate total of $10,500 for the offences. The accused was also sentenced to six months in prison which he must serve prior to his deportation back to Haiti. Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt said if Charles fails to pay the fines he could risk spending an additional year behind bars.
In passing her sentence, she said she wanted to send a clear message that the court was “incensed by such forms of illegality”.
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