CURFEW: Politician to face court in May for two alleged breaches
April 8, 2020The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) said 35-year-old Councillor for the Trafalgar Division in the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation, Kari Douglas, is to face the court on May 5.
She was charged on Wednesday, April 8, with Breaching the Disaster Risk Management Act and Disorderly Conduct.
It is alleged that she broke the nightly curfew imposed in an effort to minimize the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Police are claiming that Douglas disrespected them and failed to provide proof that she is a Councillor, which is among the group of people exempted from the curfew order.
In a press release regarding the matter, the JCF said: “The charges stem from an incident in which she (Douglas) was allegedly stopped by a team of officers about 9:28PM [yesterday] in the Kingston 19 area.
“When questioned by the lawmen, she failed to prove that she was a Councillor or to give a satisfactory reason for being on the road at that time. She reportedly became uncooperative and behaved boisterously while hurling abusive language at the officers,” the JCF further said.
It added that Douglas was granted bail in the sum of JA$20,000 and is scheduled to appear in the Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Court on May 5.
Douglas, in the meantime, has denied the police’s claim that she disrespected them, adding that the police were the ones who displayed disrespect and political bias.
She claimed that she was returning from duties in her Division and was close to her home at the time the police accosted her.
Douglas said other politicians, including Mayor of Kingston Delroy Williams, came to the Constant Spring Police Station to identify her as a Councillor, but the police did not budge.
She vowed to fight the charge in court.
Meanwhile, Douglas recently switched from the People’s National Party (PNP) to the governing Jamaica Labour Party.
She did so after being dissatisfied with the PNP’s handling of allegations that she disrespected a medical doctor at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, resulting in a shutdown of the hospital’s Accident and Emergency unit for two hours.
By Horace Mills, Journalist
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