KINGSTON, Jamaica — A 20-year-old man who was accused of loaning his bank card for criminal use was admonished and discharged when he appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Tuesday.

Ackeem Parchment had been charged with unlawfully making available a device or data for the commission of an offence and engaging in a transaction involving criminal property.

Appearing before Senior Parish Judge Sanchia Burrell, Parchment’s attorney argued that his client had been gullible and had loaned his card without understanding it would be used for illegal activities. The court also heard that Parchment had previously paid $200,000 in full as restitution on the first occasion the matter was brought before the court.

Judge Burrell, however, questioned the young man’s judgment, stating that he appeared to be a “weak fence” and asked how she could be assured that he wouldn’t be manipulated again.

In his defence, Parchment’s attorney described him as a young father to a three-year-old child and said he had the opportunity to work overseas, an opportunity that would be lost if a conviction was recorded against him.

Judge Burrell ultimately agreed to drop the charges, stating that even the complainant did not believe Parchment was the mastermind behind the crime.

She left him with a stern warning, “If you’re a thief, you will end up back here.”

Burrell encouraged him to stay on the straight and narrow and use the opportunity to do better for his child.

— Carlysia Ramdeen