ST JAMES, Jamaica – A St James businessman who was scammed by three individuals in a cheque scam, duping him out of more than $2.1 million, complained in court on Wednesday that the defendants are taking too long to make full restitution.

The defendants, Damion Green, Nathaniel Headley and Loraine Ferguson, had gone through restorative justice and agreed to pay the complainant $300,000 on the first of each month.

During the hearing in the St James Parish Court, Green handed over $25,000 and Ferguson handed over $20,000, but Headley stated that he would not have any money until Thursday.

However, the complainant was dissatisfied because he said they were $900,000 in arrears.

“If I knew this was going to be drawn out, I wouldn’t waste my time with restorative justice. I am wasting time with restorative justice. The system is not working,” said the obviously disgruntled complainant.

The court suggested that the complainant take the matter to the Civil Court, but he claimed that the civil system is ineffective.

Attorney-at-law Michael Hemmings then volunteered to explain to the complainant how the Civil Court works and suggested that he file an action in that court where the measures and remedies are swifter, while emphasising that the Civil Court is where he should really be.

Presiding parish judge Sasha-Marie Smith-Ashley then set the matter for mention again on August 31 and extended the trio’s bail.

Meanwhile, Headley is scheduled to appear in court again on July 18 to make a payment.

Headley allegedly went to a Montego Bay business establishment on December 22, 23, and 29 last year to encash cheques in the name of Anthony Williams, then returned on December 30 to encash four more cheques, which aroused the complainant’s suspicions.

All of the cheques were later discovered to be fraudulent.

Headley admitted to the complainant that he was not Anthony Williams and that the driver’s licence he used to encash the cheques was similarly forged. He also confessed that the proceeds from the earlier transactions were split between him, Green, and another defendant who was cleared of the charge in a previous court appearance.

It is alleged that the link was made through Ferguson, who was employed to the company and had access to the company’s cheques.