A NINETEEN-YEAR-old girl accused of stealing another woman's money and travel documents said she had a good reason for doing so, and insinuated that payment for sexual services formed part of the reason.
"Tell them nuh Judith. Tell them..." said the teary-eyed accused.
The complainant merely returned a confused look.
Nicole Chin, pleaded guilty with explanation to larceny, when she appeared before Resident Magistrate Martin Gayle in the Corporate Area RM court on Tuesday.
The complainant, Judith Roache, said she and her husband reside in the United States, but only recently returned to the island because they had purchased a house in Greater Portmore, St. Catherine. She said when she went to look at it, she was displeased with the state of the house, so she went to stay at the hotel until it was in a better condition. She said, it was then that she met the accused.
Complainant's passport
The allegations are that on May 14, at about 9:15 p.m., the accused was at the Olympia Crown Hotel, in Kingston 10, and the complainant, who was also a guest at the hotel, called the accused and asked her for some lotion. The complainant agreed and invited her to her room. The complainant who was in the bathroom at the time came out a few minutes after the accused left the room. On examination of her luggage, she realised that the accused had stolen her purse containing US $302 and JA $10,000, her green card and her Jamaican passport. The accused was later traced to the Four Seasons Hotel and was found with US $102 and JA$6, 950. The complainant's passport and green card were also recovered.
She said one night the two were sitting at the bar in the hotel, and the two struck up a conversation, and Chin told her that her mother was abroad, and she was there studying for examinations. She says Chin told her she happened upon some hard times and was in need of money. "The first time she ask me for $100 and the next time, she ask me for $500 and I give it to her Your Honour."
"So if her mother can afford to put her up in a hotel, then why she couldn't afford to take care of her?" asked RM Gayle.
Perform services
The accused said most of Roache's story was a lie. "Your Honour, that's not how it went. She know the reason why I took the money Your Honour, and is not anything like what she says."
Chin said she grew up in a children's home, because her adopted father was dead and she did not have a relationship with her adopted mother. She says she left the home at 17, and was living with some friends during this time.
"So how you end up at the hotel?" asked RM Gayle.
"I had some money Your Honour and so I was staying there," she said.
"You used to love to write comprehension don't?" asked RM Gayle.
"No Your Honour, is true; I am not lying," said Chin starting to cry.
Chin said when she met the complainant at the bar, Roache told her she and her husband were having problems and started confiding in her. She said Roache invited her up to her room to perform some services for her.
She said on another occasion Roache and her went shopping and Roache "out of the blue just ask me if I want $500. I said, 'well since she already was supposed to give me $500, so I took it," said Chin.
"What she giving you the $500 for?" asked RM Gayle.
"Some services, Your Honour," replied Chin.
"What services?"
"Tell them nuh Judith. Tell them," she said, refusing to go into details, while turning to the accused.
"I knew this was where she wanted to take it from a long time," said RM Gayle.
RM Gayle told the probation officer to prepare a report, while the accused was remanded in custody and is reappear on June 9.
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