By LAMECH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
ljohnson@tribunemedia.net
A POLICE officer was granted $5,000 bail yesterday after being charged in Magistrate’s Court with sexually assaulting an underage girl.
Sergeant Dwight Rolle, an officer in the Urban Renewal Division, appeared before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt on a single count of “unlawful sexual intercourse”.
It is claimed that he had sex with a 15-year-old girl sometime between February and March of this year.
Under the law, a minor under the age of 16 cannot give consent to sexual relations.
Rolle, 44, was not required to enter a plea to the charge as the Crown intends to fast-track the case to the Supreme Court for trial.
The transfer of the case to the higher court is scheduled for January 22, 2016.
“Do you want to be permitted to bail?” the chief magistrate asked the accused.
“Yes,” the police sergeant answered.
“Why?” the chief magistrate asked.
“I’d like to get my affairs in order,” the officer said.
“All of this happened in two hours so I wasn’t able to do anything,” Rolle added.
When asked if he was allowed to contact an attorney, as one was notably absent for the proceedings, Rolle said he was allowed.
Police prosecutor ASP Clifford Daxon offered no objection to bail for the accused.
“As there’s been no objection to bail, the court accedes to the application made by the defendant. Bail is granted in the sum of $5,000. He is to have no contact, verbal or otherwise, with the complainant,” the chief magistrate ruled.
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