Attorneys pool to pay $5,000 DRMA fine for sick, old woman

Three attorneys-at-law on Tuesday pooled together inside the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court to pay a $5,000 fine for a 69-year-old woman charged for breaching the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA).

Beverley Isaacs, a street sweeper of a Denham Town address in the Corporate Area, pleaded guilty to breaches of the DRMA and the offence indecent exposure.

The feeble-looking woman was admonished and discharged of the indecent exposure charge by Senior Parish Judge Lori-Ann Cole-Montague and the Crown offered no case against her for disorderly conduct.

So frail was Isaacs that she was allowed to sit in the prisoner’s dock when the allegations against her were being disclosed and discussed.

The court heard that on the day in question, Isaacs stripped off her clothes while being detained, a charge the sickly woman and the attorney acting on her behalf, Vincent Wellesley, vehemently denied.

Wellesley told the court that Isaacs routinely works with policemen, who knew her well, and he was surprised that a cop would mount a charge on the sickly woman, especially under conflicting circumstances.

Wellesley, who said he acted as a servant of the court, argued that two of the charges be dropped, leaving only the DRMA offence as his client could not survive jail time as she could collapse at any minute.

“She is faced with every manner of sickness that the devil has bestowed on humans,” Wellesley told the court.

The Crown upheld the submission on the basis that Isaacs entered a plea of guilty in relation to the DRMA and indecent exposure charge.

After consultation with her attorney, she was asked to enter a plea while the court clerk detailed the offences.

“Not guilty, Your Honour. Why would I expose myself? I am a big woman,” a shaky Isaacs said before she was encouraged by Wellesley to plead guilty on both counts.

Senior Parish Judge Cole-Montague told Isaacs that Wellesley argued well on her behalf and that she was mindful to fine her only $5,000.

But even that amount was too much, and the street sweeper said she was out of cash and began to weep.

Wellesley then dipped into his pockets and later got assistance from two other counsel, who offered up $1,000 to cover the fine.

Cole-Montague applauded the attorneys’ act of generosity and chided others, who in other instances, have been reluctant to assist.

“Ms Isaacs, you are admonished and discharged and, in your condition, take good care of yourself,” Cole-Montague said.

Isaacs collapsed on her way out the courtroom and was assisted by court staff and others awaiting their own judgment.

She was lifted by a policeman and placed on a bench in the court hall and rubbing alcohol was administered. She was revived moments later and assisted home.

People’s National Party (PNP) local government spokesperson, Denise Daley, drew on the outcome in Isaacs’ case to condemn what she deemed as inequitable enforcement of the DRMA, calling on the Government to conduct a review to ensure that the law is being fairly enforced.

“Let us, while upholding the laws of the land, ensure that all are protected and treated equally,” Daley said in a statement, adding that the PNP was harbouring concerns about the how the DRMA was being enforced.

“In light of the director of public prosecutions’ position that no charges were to be laid against Floyd Green and company for carousing at the R-Hotel on a no-movement day, the selective enforcement of the DRMA has become even more apparent,” she charged.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com