ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — Spanish Town Mayor Norman Scott was ordered to have his fingerprint recorded by the police when he appeared in the St Elizabeth Parish Court in Santa Cruz on Monday morning.

Scott, the defeated People’s National Party candidate for St Elizabeth South East in the recent September 3 election, is before the courts after he was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and malicious destruction of property following an incident involving Jamaica Labour Party indoor agent Julie Francis at a polling station, BB Coke High School, in Junction on Election Day.

A police report said that about 12:00 pm on September 3, Scott visited the polling station and stayed a little longer than the allotted time. Police said an agent’s attempt to inform him that his allotted time at the facility had already been spent resulted in a commotion.

Police said another agent intervened to quell the uproar and was struck to the face by Scott before his security detail removed him from the location. Following the incident, a report was made to the police and an investigation was launched into the matter. Police said summons for the aforementioned offences were formally served on the mayor on Friday, September 12.

When Scott made his first court appearance before Parish Court Judge Steve Walters on Monday he was represented by attorney-at-law Charles Ganga-Singh. The complainant in the matter, Julie Francis, was represented by a team of lawyers led by King’s Counsel Tom Tavares-Finson.

The lead attorney for Francis said the presiding judge agreed with his request to apply for a fiat to prosecute Scott. When contacted, Ganga-Singh declined to comment on the record.

Scott is bound over to reappear in the St Elizabeth Parish Court in Santa Cruz on November 27.

— Kasey Williams

(L-R) Member of parliament for St Elizabeth South Eastern, complainant Julie Francis, King’s Counsel Tom Tavares-Finson, Attorney-at-law Christian Tavares-Finson and other members of the legal team.

(L-R) Member of parliament for St Elizabeth South Eastern and King’s Counsel Tom Tavares-Finson.