News

Man fined a forged document

By ROY SANFORD, Staff Reporter

Western Bureau:

DELROY TATE, A 43-year-old man, was spared a mandatory jail term after he pleaded guilty to uttering a forged document in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.

He was fined $80,000, however, and if he is unable to pay it he will have to spend six months at hard labour behind bars.

Tate told the court that he attempted to leave Jamaica on a forged British passport because his son had just passed an exam and he was trying to find ways in assisting the young man.

Reports are that on August 17, Tate showed up at the Sangster International Airport and checked in to board an Air Jamaica flight to Curacao. He presented a British passport bearing the name John Stewart Rolston. He was issued a boarding pass for the aircraft but was stopped at the security checkpoint by a narcotic policeman who became suspicious after examining the passport.

The immigration police were called and further examinations of the passport were made and it was noticed that the picture in the travel document was compromised. Tate later told the police his real name and said he lives in St. Ann. He told the court that he is a father of three and was trying to get to England in order to assist his son.

However, RM Valrie Stephens, who presided over the case, told him his actions were rather stupid thing and he should have known better since he is a 'big man'.