“Tombstone” to answer deception charges in October

During a trial set for October, ’Tombstone’ will attempt to lay to rest a charge that he deceived the St Vincent Brewery out of 66 cases of drinks.

A known figure from headlines over the years, the character named Allister ‘Tombstone’ Smith, also going by the surname Millington, was taken to the Mesopotamia Magistrate’s Court last Friday, July 30.

There, he claimed innocence for two traffic violations, namely that he, being the driver of PA813, did drive the vehicle without a license, and without an applicable insurance policy against third party risk. These offences allegedly occurred at the Arnos Vale public road on July 27. Smith/Millington is also accused that he dishonestly obtained 66 cases of Hairoun products valued at $4,434.08, the property of the St Vincent Brewery Ltd of Campden Park, with the intention to permanently deprive them of the cases. This act apparently took place between July 12 and 14 at Campden Park/Arnos Vale.

After spending a long weekend behind bars, Millington/Smith was taken to the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court(KMC) on Tuesday, August 3, where he was given another chance to argue for bail while he awaits the outcome of these matters.

Prosecutor Sergeant Cornelius Tittle, noted that when the defendant appeared in court at Mesopotamia, the prosecution had objected to bail because the police are in the process of continuing investigations and are looking for a particular piece of evidence. As at Tuesday, they had not had the desired success in finding it, and were asking for a week to make progress.

Tittle submitted that if Millington/Smith was granted bail at that point they feared he may interfere with the investigation.

Senior Magistrate Rickie Burnett queried whether the investigator was present in court on that day, but was told that he was not.

“I’m sorry that he’s not here because he would have been in a position to tell the court what was done by him from Friday to today,” the judicial officer commented.

“I would have loved to hear from him,” he said, “…Because the reason that you are putting forward before the court why bail should not be granted is of some concern to me.” This is because a charge has already been laid, the magistrate noted.

Counsel for the defense, Kay Bacchus-Baptiste said that this was “exactly my concern”.

“…the fact that they have charged him should indicate that they are ready,” she stated. Bacchus- Baptiste commented that she believed that it was a play for time, and determined that their looking for a particular piece of evidence was a “vague excuse.”

The lawyer insisted that it was not grounds to deny bail, and that the police had had four days to conduct their investigation.

“They(the prosecution) cannot at the bar table just simply say that he will interfere and therefore he must not be granted bail. This is not the kind of matter that he will interfere in,” she said, “…So I do not think that it would be just to deny my client bail, especially in the circumstances.”

“If they have charged him, they should be ready,” the counsel reiterated, and asked what would the prosecution would have said if the defense had come to court that morning and said they were ready to proceed.

“What would they say? No we are not ready, send him back to jail until we are ready? It is absolutely unfair…” She further gave an undertaking that her client would do “absolutely nothing” to interfere with the matter.

Ultimately, the magistrate granted Smith/Millington bail in the sum of $4000, with one surety.

The prosecution indicated that they would be ready for trial in two months.

A date of October 4 was scheduled for trial.

Transportation to take the inmates away arrived before anyone came to sign the bail for ‘Tombstone’.