Judge frees Hellshire fishermen

A group of fishermen who the police charged with extortion arising from an incident at the Hellshire beach on Emancipation Day, August 2, was freed in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate's court yesterday.

Magistrate Simone Maddix released the men for want of prosecution, following a lengthy submission by their attorney Delano Franklyn.

Five members of the Half Moon Bay Fishermen's Co-operative were arrested and taken to the Greater Portmore Police Station in an army vehicle, after police accused them of charging patrons to enter what the law enforcers said was a public beach.

The Portmore police were a no-show in court yesterday.

The fishermen contended that they were the rightful owners of the beach and were entitled to charge the public a fee to enter, a right which they exercised only on public holidays.

The five charged with extortion were the co-operative's president Gladstone Whyte, secretary Devon Malcolm, and members Vincent Colash, Kenneth Jenkins and George Smith.

The Portmore police said that the men had not shown proof that they were the rightful owners of 10 acres of prime beachfront property and had to be charged.

"They haven't been able to produce those documents to me at this point," head of the Portmore police Superintendent Anthony Powell said in an interview carried in the Sunday Observer of August 15.

"As far as I am concerned, Hellshire is a public beach and no one is authorised to collect money. They were demanding money from persons entering the beach and demanding money by menace amounts to extortion," Powell had told the Sunday Observer.

The co-operative looks after the interests of fishermen and fish vendors.

Although the men were given bail and told to appear in the Spanish Town RM Court on August 17, the matter was not mentioned, as it was not listed.

Yesterday, the men -- dressed in their organisation's polo shirts -- could not contain their excitement when the judge dismissed the case.

"I am elated and relieved that the matter is over," Whyte told the Observer.

"I am glad that our names have been cleared. The most important thing now is to get the public to know that going to Hellshire is like going to Fort Clarence beach ... it is a private beach," Whyte said.

At the time of their arrest, the men, who could have spent three years in prison if they were found guilty, had collected $50,500 at the gate, which they expect police to return to them.

There is usually an entry charge of $50 for persons aged 12 and over.

"The money that we collect goes toward helping to maintain and develop the beach. We also collect $500 on a weekly basis from shed operators, as we also have to pay for garbage collection, electricity and administrative costs," Whyte said during an earlier interview with the Sunday Observer.

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