Man narrowly escapes jail

A 23-year-old Barrouallie man was earlier this week spared a prison sentence thanks to the vigilance of a police prosecutor.{{more}}

Carlson Hannaway narrowly escaped a prison sentence on Monday May 4, at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court when the previous convictions of another man were presented to the court as if they were Hannaway’s.

The records read in court were that of another man bearing the name Carlson Hannaway, but who was 15 years’ senior and lived at Campden Park. Young Hannaway was born in 1986.

Luckily for the young man, Police Prosecutor Sergeant Glenford Gregg picked up the error. The prosecutor indicated to the court that the other Hannaway was born in 1962 and had previous convictions of drug possession and other offences.

In court, young Hannaway pleaded guilty to possession of 798 grams of cannabis on April 30, 2009 at the Grenadines Wharf. He told the court that he had no previous convictions for drugs and that he was not the Carlson Hannaway who they were speaking about.

Senior Magistrate Donald Browne had already threatened to imprison Hannaway for his brush with the law, after seeing what he thought were his previous convictions. “That paper has to be dealt with now, since he is clearly not the other Carlson Hannway. This is a very serious matter that I was going to send him back to prison for,” Browne stated.

As a result of the clarification, Hannaway was fined $1,000 in one month or will spend one year behind bars if he fails to comply.(KW)