SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine – The professional Standard Branch (PSB) of the police force has commenced investigations into reports of a case file that went missing from a filling cabinet at the Greater Portmore police station in St Catherine on Monday.

The completed file contains statements pertaining to an arson case. Tenetha Greaves, 32, of 30 Deanery Road, Kingston 3, was arrested and charged with setting fire to a house at about 2:30 pm on February 20, at Lot 369, 5 West Greater Portmore, St Catherine. The house reportedly belonged to her boyfriend, Richard Rose, and the case file was being prepared for her appearance in the St Catherine Criminal Court yesterday. However, when the case came before the Spanish Town criminal court, the missing file did not prevent senior St Catherine resident magistrate Lorna Errar-Gayle from slapping a fine of $250,000 or 12 months imprisonment on Greaves who, on the instruction of her attorney Wendel Wellesley, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of malicious destruction of property.

Detective Corporal Rowan Lawrence told the court that the case file was not before the court as it was among 20 others locked away in a filing cabinet at the police station on Monday. He said further that when he returned to enclose his statement the following day, he discovered the file missing.

The magistrate asked Greaves’ boyfriend if he was willing to give the statement again to the police, to which he agreed. The statement was collected in court and Greaves pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of malicious destruction of property

She was given six weeks, with surety, to pay the fine.