Portmore woman accused of passport fraud freed

A Portmore, St Catherine woman accused of passport fraud has been freed by the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.

The charges of making a false declaration and obtaining a passport by forgery were dismissed against 38-year-old Theresa Grandison following submissions by her attorney Samoi Campbell.

Grandison was arrested and charged following a routine trip to the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency to renew her passport.

She was accused of seeking to obtain a fake passport.

The passport in question was in the name of Dainean Nicola Brown, a woman who had similar features to Grandison.

When the matter came up in court on Wednesday, Campbell pointed out that the handwriting expert report given to her by the Crown revealed that the application for the passport in the name Dainean Nicola Brown was not done by her client.

Campbell further pointed out that there was a birth certificate issued by Registrar General's Department in the name of Dainean Nicola Brown and that travel records on the Crown's file indicated that passport in the name of Dainean Nicola Brown was used to leave Jamaica on October 2, 2005.

She noted that there is no indication that that person has since returned to Jamaica.

The Crown agreed with the submissions and the judge dismissed the charges.

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