REAL NEWS: Security at the St. John’s Police Station and St. John’s Magistrates Court allegedly was breached by a Jamaican woman, last week; and this reportedly has prompted Chief Magistrate Joanne Walsh to threaten to withhold her services if security is not beefed up at the court.
A source tells REAL News that, after she was remanded to His Majesty’s Prison, the woman was found with a large knife.
Early last week, the source recounts, the woman was taken into custody and reportedly charged with malicious damage, then taken before the chief magistrate last Wednesday.
Reportedly, while the charge was being put to the accused, she was acting in a strange manner and kept asking for the investigator.
Concerned about her behaviour, Walsh remanded the woman to allow herself time to make inquiries about her mental health.
It was while the woman was being processed and searched at the prison that the brown-handled, silver-blade knife was found hidden on her person.
It is alleged that the woman told prison officials she had the knife in her possession all the time, even when picked up by the Police.
According to the source, Walsh was immediately notified about the situation.
The chief magistrate was advised that she needs to ensure that police officers search persons, especially prisoners, before they enter the court.
There is concern that the woman could have used the knife she carried to hurt someone, another source says, since, on the day she appeared in court, there were only two officers assigned to Walsh’s courtroom.
There was a male, who was calling up the cases, and a female who stood guard of the prisoners. Therefore, there was no officer to conduct searches of persons entering.
The source says that a senior officer who is attached to the court went on vacation a month ago, and another senior officer followed him; hence, no superior officer was in place at the court last week to assign duties.
Meanwhile, after Walsh was notified of the breach, she allegedly threatened not to go on the bench today, Monday, June 19.
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Reportedly, she is demanding that a senior officer be put in place to ensure that subordinate officers are assigned properly, and a full complement of officers is in the court.
According to the source, a senior officer met with the chief magistrate last week and promised that this would be done. Reportedly, this is not the first time the Jamaican woman has been charged with malicious damage. She had a similar charge laid against her last year, according to reports.
At that point it was discovered that she was out of legal time in the country, and the Jamaican Consulate was asked to have a ticket purchased for her to return home. But nothing has been done, to date, the source says.
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