By FARRAH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
A MAGISTRATE yesterday acquitted a man charged for patronising a bar earlier this year, after ruling the prosecution failed to prove their case.
Shamaalye Lightbourne was summoned to court after he failed to pay a fixed penalty citation for allegedly buying a beer from an establishment in February, in violation of the emergency orders.
He denied the allegation during his trial before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis.
When the officer who issued the ticket gave evidence yesterday, he said he and a team of officers, acting on information, went to a restaurant and bar on Cowpen Road around 7.56pm. He said when they entered the establishment, he observed a group of individuals sitting in a bar area. The court was told that the officer noticed Lightbourne sitting in the corner appearing to consume a “beverage in a dark bottle”. He said he then approached the defendant, who when questioned, said he was “waiting on food”. The officer said he then gave him a fixed penalty notice for patronising a prohibited business and warned him of possible prosecution if he did not pay the fine.
Yesterday Lightbourne was not represented by an attorney. When he cross-examined the officer, he asked him why he was the only one who was ticketed when there were about four to five females who were not wearing masks in the establishment at the time.
He also asked the officer if he thought it was fair for him to pay a $100 ticket when he only came to the restaurant to pick up his food order.
After this, Magistrate Rolle Davis said the court noted that the officer’s evidence did not indicate whether the beverage in the dark bottle was purchased from the restaurant’s bar, which meant the “prosecution did not make out its case”. He said he also accepted the fact that operating hours for business at that time was 6am-9pm. He said that as it was established that Lightbourne was at the restaurant around 8pm, he was “well within” the lawful hours of operation.
“In the circumstances the defendant is acquitted of the offence,” he said.
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