Hotel janitor faces multiple charges

Christopher Thomas, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:A hotel janitor of a Montego Bay address in St James was offered bail in the sum of $10,000 on his own surety on Monday after he was reportedly caught offering tour-guide services without requisite licence.

Twenty-five-year-old Richard George was called upon to answer charges of offering services as a tour guide without a licence, disorderly conduct, and using indecent language when he appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court.

Initially, George pleaded guilty with explanation to the offering services charge, not guilty to disorderly conduct, and guilty to using indecent language. However, he later changed his plea to not guilty to the first charge.

It is alleged that on November 15, the investigating officer saw George along Gloucester Avenue in Montego Bay with about 20 tourists accompanying him. He was overheard telling them, "This is Gloucester Avenue, the place I've been telling you about."

ALLEGED THREAT

The officer approached George and informed him that what he was doing was illegal. The accused man reportedly remonstrated with the lawman, accusing him of trying to stop him from earning a living.

"Every day you see a black man, you want to stop me food," George reportedly told the policeman as he was being arrested and charged. "When me get bail, me and me friend dem a come a Bottom Road come f… you up."

In court, George told Resident Magistrate Sandria Wong-Small that he had not approached the tourists but they had in fact asked him for directions to a club on Gloucester Avenue.

"I was going home from work, and the tourists came to me and asked me where Blue Beats is... I didn't ask them, they asked me," said George.

"The white people are smart; all you would have had to do is say, 'it is down the road'," RM Wong-Small replied.

During the hearing, the prosecution told the magistrate that its case file against George was complete and that it was ready to go to trial.

"You will return for trial in the Night Court on January 22, at 5 p.m.," RM Wong-Small told George.

RM Wong-Small offered bail for $10,000 and the accused has been asked to report at the Mount Salem Police Station every Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.