A woman accused of forging a lottery ticket to collect a jackpot valuing over $7 million pleaded not guilty when the matter was mentioned in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's court on Wednesday.
Jean Ebanks told the court that she bought and presented a legitimate ticket and that any illegality regarding her ticket must have occurred on the part of the lottery company.
Ebanks explained to the court that she saw the lottery numbers in the newspaper on June 7 while she was standing at a bus stop in Montego Bay, St James, and, after matching them against her ticket, she realised she had won.
She said she then went to the lottery sales person close to the bus stop and he took the ticket and put it in the machine and told her she had won. She said he made a copy of the ticket, took her telephone number and said he would send it on to the head office in Kingston. Ebanks said the dealer then gave her back her ticket.
Telephone call
She said she later received a telephone call from the head office, an appointment was made with her for Friday June 13 at 11 a.m. Ebanks said she went to the office and completed all the paperwork given to her. She said the office confirmed that she had a winning ticket prior to interviewing her and had not said anything to her about any irregularities with her ticket. She also told the court that she purchased her lottery ticket in Trelawny.
The court was told that Ebanks allegedly altered some numbers on the lottery ticket and turned it in to collect the jackpot. She has been charged with forgery, uttering forged documents and attempting to obtain.
After listening to her explanation Resident Magistrate Glen Brown told the accused that computers were able to track the whole process and so could determine where the winning ticket was purchased.
A mention date of June 26 was set for the matter and her fingerprints were ordered taken. Ebanks bail was also extended.
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