A MAN WHO refused to pay $30 for his bus fare was slapped with fines amounting to $6000 when he appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate Court on Tuesday.
It is alleged that on Tuesday morning the accused boarded a Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) bus which was travelling along Molynes Road, St. Andrew.
The accused was asked by the conductress for his bus fare but he refused. An argument developed and the accused allegedly pulled a ratchet knife and allegedly punched the conductress on the left side of her face causing swelling.
The police who were nearby were summoned and the accused was held, searched and a ratchet knife and two counterfeit $1,000 notes were found in his possession.
He was arrested and charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, possession of counterfeit notes, armed with an offensive weapon and refusing to pay fare.
The accused who pleaded guilty when he appeared before Resident Magistrate Martin Gayle, told the court in his defence that he could not afford the fare. "Is not that I did not want to pay, I didn't have the fare to pay," he said.
He was fined $2,000 for possession of counterfeit notes, $3,000 or 10 days for assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, $1000 or 10 days for being armed with an offensive weapon and admonished and discharged for refusing to pay bus fare.
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