KINGSTON, Jamaica — The legal team representing Mayor of Spanish Town Norman Scott is asserting his innocence following criminal charges stemming from an incident at a polling station in St Elizabeth during the September 3 general election.

Scott has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and malicious destruction of property after an alleged confrontation at the polling station.

According to reports from the Black River police, the 66-year-old mayor, who resides on Williams Street in Spanish Town and in Gazeland district, St Elizabeth, reportedly exceeded his allotted time at the station shortly after noon.

In a statement issued on Friday, attorney Charles A Ganga-Singh, legal counsel for Scott, rejected the allegations and said the mayor was instead the victim of an attack.

“My client, Mayor Noramn Scott, maintains his innocence in relation to the charges laid against him,” Ganga-Singh said. “While we respect the ongoing legal process, it is important to highlight that Mayor Scott was the victim of an unprovoked attack by a mob of Jamaica Labour Party supporters at the polling station in St Elizabeth on election day.”

Ganga-Singh said it was “curious, and frankly troubling” that police reports made no mention of the alleged attack, despite Scott having formally reported it. He added that the mayor had to be rescued from the premises by his security team and members of the Jamaica Defence Force.

“We are confident that when all the evidence is presented in court, including eyewitness accounts and the report of the attack made by Mayor Scott himself, it will become clear that the narrative put forward so far is incomplete and does not accurately reflect the events of that day,” he stated.

The attorney urged the public to withhold judgment until the case is heard in court, saying Scott “remains committed to the democratic process and to serving the people of Spanish Town with integrity.”

Scott is expected to appear in the Santa Cruz Parish Court on Monday, October 13.