Suspended sentence for woman who made false report

Senior Parish Judge Lori-Anne Cole-Montaque on Tuesday extended leniency to a mother of four, who had confessed in court to making a false report to the police about her common-law husband.

Tanya Campbell, who lied that her common-law husband had an illegal firearm, said that she feared that her children would be abused by him.

"Him always a fight me in front a me daughter and me never want him lick her too," she confessed, in seeking to explain why she lied.

"I realise that you are someone in need and things kind of hard on you. You didn't like what was happening in front of your children and I see that in some way, you are a victim, so I take that into account," the senior parish judge told Campbell.

"I will not send you to prison, but because the offence is a serious one, the sentence must reflect that it is serious," the judge explained. Campbell, who pleaded guilty to creating public mischief when she appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on March 7, was in court on Tuesday to be sentenced by the senior jurist. Cole-Montaque sentenced Campbell, a 34-year-old higgler, to four months imprisonment at hard labour, suspended for 18 months.

On February 22, Campbell's common-law husband appeared in the Home Circuit Court to answer to charges of being armed with a prohibited weapon and assault at common law. During the proceedings, Campbell stood up in court and remarked, "A lie me did a tell pon him."

According to the initial allegation, Campbell claimed that sometime last December, she and her common-law husband were at home, when he threatened to kill her with a gun. After admitting that she had lied, she was charged with creating public mischief. The matter against her common-law husband was withdrawn.

"You cannot be wasting time like that," said Judge Cole-Montaque. "Do not give any more trouble, no more false reports."