Man with fake driver’s licence waits for sentencing
MONTEGO BAY, St James — A St James man who admitted to presenting a forged driver’s licence to a policeman will learn on May 5 if anything in his past will impact his sentencing.
The defendant, Brian Campbell, appeared in the parish court on Wednesday to face charges of uttering a forged document, driving without a valid licence, and driving without insurance.
According to court records, the cop was on patrol on February 27 when he noticed Campbell driving a vehicle that had a broken windshield. The policeman pulled over the vehicle and asked the defendant for his driver’s licence as well as the car documents.
Campbell presented the documents, but the policeman noticed that the insurance was invalid. Campbell then presented a driver’s licence bearing the name Radcliffe Anthony Blake and claimed to have legally changed his name through a deed poll. However, he lacked the necessary documentation to back up this claim. The driver also produced a driver’s licence in the name Brian Campbell. It had expired in 2007.
Following the reading of the allegations, Campbell’s attorney, Noel Butler, stated that he believes a social inquiry report would benefit his client.
Presiding Judge Kaysha Grant-Pryce then made an official request for the report to be completed and granted Campbell bail in the amount of $200,000 with up to two sureties.
“Sir, you will return to court on May 5… We will wait for a social inquiry report, and based on that report and the antecedents report, we will determine what sentence is suitable for you,” the judge told the defendant.
“If all is well, if you’ve never been convicted and are not associated with any criminal activity, we should be able to impose a fine… But that’s just the starting point, sir, because you pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.”
Grant-Pryce also stated that if additional aggravating factors are identified in the social inquiry report or antecedent report, a sentence of incarceration may be considered appropriate.