A Kingston electrician who was caught with a fraudulent document granting him a driver’s licence spent the weekend in jail after he told the magistrate that he got the fake document because he did not want to drive for the permit.

Fabian Rattray, 26, who was arrested and charged with uttering a forged document, told the court that he got the ‘licence’ after he went to the downtown branch of the Inland Revenue Department and tendered the document which, according to him, indicated that he had passed his driving test at the examination depot.

On Friday when he appeared in court and was asked why he had tendered the fake document, Rattray told RM Simone Wolfe-Reece, “Through mi never waa drive fi it.”

He later confessed to the magistrate that a man at the depot had told him to “give him a little thing” and he would sort out the licence for him.

Rattray said he then went to the Tax Office to drop off the document and to collect his licence.

He was however scolded by the magistrate who asked him if he was not aware that driving was an essential part of getting the licence and included certain aspects such as reversing and parallel parking.

“Through mi never waa drive fi it’, me like dat,” the magistrate said eliciting laughter from the court.

She then asked Rattray if he was not aware that what he was doing was fraudulent.

“I didn’t know it was fraud,” he answered.

“You went to the depot and a man told you to give him a little thing because you did not want to drive for it and you didn’t know it was fraud?” RM Wolfe-Reece asked.

“I didn’t know,” Rattray insisted.

“You are 26 and you don’t know that not driving and not doing the test was fraud,” the magistrate said before the revoking Rattray’s bail while indicating that she needed time to think about his sentence.

He is to return to court today to know his fate.

— Tanesha Mundle