A Police Constable attached to the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) found himself on the wrong side of the law when he was fined $270,000 this afternoon. This was after accepting that he committed a series of traffic offences.
Police Constable Rawle Welcome, 25, of 268 East Ruimveldt Housing Scheme, Georgetown was arraigned before Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts where he was charged with six traffic offences.
The charges stemmed from an accident which occurred on Sunday May 13, 2018 on Vlissingen Road, Georgetown.
The accident involved motorcycle CH 1862 which Welcome was riding and motor jeep PWW 485.
According to facts presented by Police Prosecutor Arvin Moore, on the day in question, Welcome was riding the motorcycle with a pillion rider when he lost control of the vehicle and collided with the jeep. As a result of the accident, both riders fell onto the roadway and received minor injuries.
The prosecution’s facts revealed that Welcome was taken to the Kitty Police Station where the matter was reported.
Upon conducting investigations, police found that Welcome was riding the motorcycle while being unlicensed. The motorcycle did not have insurance neither was it certified. Welcome was also riding without safety helmet. Investigations further revealed that the police rank was riding in a manner dangerous to the public.
He was charged with the six offences to which he pleaded guilty.
As it relates to the dangerous driving charge, Welcome was fined $70,000. On the charge of riding an unlicensed motorcycle, he was fined $40,000. He was further fined $40,000 for riding an uninsured motorcycle and another $40,000 for riding an uncertified motorcycle. On the charge of driving a motorcycle without being the holder of a driver’s license he was fined another $40,000. And for riding without safety helmets he was fined a further $40,000.
Each fine attracts a default term of imprisonment of 14 days, except for the dangerous driving charge which attracts default term of imprisonment of six months. At the conclusion of the hearing, Magistrate Latchman instilled a stern warning to Welcome by telling him, “Let me warn you that you must never do this again.”
As a law enforcement officer, Magistrate Latchman told Welcome that he “should have known better.”
Anyways, Welcome acknowledged the warning and was thereafter handcuffed and escorted to the prisoner’s holding area. He had no legal representation.
