A man who pretended to be a police superintendent and offered protection to a woman for three years,was arrested recently.
Derrick Thompson, 51, who is accused of telling the woman he was a member of Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and was assigned to protect her from her ex-boyfriend who had threatened to kill her, was arrested after the woman found out his true identity - albeit three years later.
Thompson was denied bail in the Corporate Area resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, despite pleas from his attorney. He returns to court on September 16.
The court heard that Thompson approached a woman who was in a verbally and physically abusive marriage, posing as an officer and offering protection. The woman, who separated from her spouse, was allegedly receiving threats.
The court also heard that Thompson told the woman that the matter had somehow reached the ear of the police commissioner who assigned him to protect her.
Moved inIt is alleged that Thompson convinced the woman into allowing him to move in with her and turning over her car to him as protective measures. The court was told that at one point, Thompson told her that the 'investigations' had got too serious and she needed to leave the island for her safety. She subsequently left for the Dominican Republic.
While there, it is said that Thompson contacted her, telling her that for his safety he needed to leave Jamaica as well. She sponsored him on a two-week trip to the Dominican Republic.
The complainant only found out that Thompson was lying after returning to Jamaica this year and contacting the commissioner's office, which revealed he was not a member of the JCF.
Thompson's lawyer opposed some of the details in the allegations, saying they were not in the statements she got. She told Resident Magistrate Glen Brown that her client may have erred in telling the complainant he was a policeman but that he has since become a Christian and is expecting to get married in December to a church sister.
Having affairIt is this, the lawyer stated, that angered the now jealous complainant to report Thompson. The attorney said she found it strange that in the three years the complainant was being 'protected', she was having an affair with Thompson and did not check if he was really a cop.
The lawyer's bail application fell on deaf ears, however, and Thompson was remanded.
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