Tashieka Mair, Star Writer

WESTERN BUREAU

Despite his arguments by his attorney that he would not be a danger to the witnesses, a man facing 77 counts of embezzlement was remanded when he appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court.

On the first occasion before RM Winsome Henry, debt collector Peter Tomlinson, 31, was without legal representation. However, last Monday, attorney Morrel Beckford applied for bail on his behalf.

Mr. Beckford told the court that given the nature of the charges, his client was not in a position to be a danger to the witnesses or complainants in the matter. He also raised the point that his client would not be able to secure similar employment, thus lessening the chance of repeating the offence.

However, the RM cited the fact that several of the witnesses have not given a statement to the police, and feared that the accused could interfere with the investigations.

The lawyer asked for the RM's reasons in writing so he could make an application before the Supreme Court. He also expressed that his client, of a Farm Heights address in St. James, has been jailed since October 30.

The attorney maintained that his client was being punished because of the prosecution's failure to do its job.

The accused man is scheduled to return to court tomorrow.

Allegations are that sometime between 2004 and October of this year, Tomlinson reported that a receipt book issued to him by a collections agency company to collect bad debt from persons was missing. However, it was discovered that he used the same book to collect more than $1 million from 77 persons. The receipt book was subsequently recovered from his car.