Man Charged In Court Over Airport Security Incident

[Updated] This morning [Oct 1] in Magistrates Court 31-year-old Lorenzo Lottimore appeared charged in connection with the airport security incident on Tues, Sept 28th that saw two planes grounded, and airport services suspended while authorities conducted extensive security searches.

He was charged with two counts of breaching airport security, and plead guilty to both. Due to concerns expressed by the Crown, the case has been adjourned to 12 noon today.

Update 11:05am, Full report:

In giving evidence, Prosecutor Robert Welling from the DPP’s office said that in the early hours of 28 September, Airport Security officers had found Lottimore exiting AA 1443 via a folding ladder that was at the rear of AA 1443 which was, at the time, parked on the ramp. The ladder was extensible to fifteen feet but folded down to just two feet. They accosted Mr. Lottimore, questioned him, and then let him go. Shortly after, Mr. Lottimore left LF Wade International Airport on a bike and left the area.

Airport Security reported the incident and Mr. Lottimore was later arrested at his home in Rocklands, Warwick.

Mr. Lottimore was said to be a trained aircraft mechanic, to possess a pilot’s license for small planes, and to be an ex-employee of Air Services Bermuda. He had paid for his own pilot training in the USA.

The DPP’s continuing evidence was that in a statement to Police, Lottimore had said that he had entered the aircraft in order to get into the cockpit and study the aircraft’s ‘airport approach’ systems. The DPP’s further evidence was that Lottimore was doing this so that he could better use the aircraft handling software that he had and that he used to maintain and improve his pilot skills with his home PC flight simulator.

Mr Welling admitted that Lottimore had failed to enter the aircraft’s cockpit as it was secured and locked. Mr Welling continued that the result of Mr. Lottimore’s incursion and security breach had been to draw international attention to Bermuda and its Airport security; a flight delay of three hours to the AA Miami flight and of eight hours to the AA NY flight which caused inconvenience to the travelling public.

Magistrate Warner expressed surprise that the two charges laid by the DPP seemed light in comparison to the heightened threat and security status of all airports. This reaction was, no doubt, sparked by Mr Welling’s pointing out, at the end of his summation of the evidence, that under the two charges as laid, the Court’s powers were limited to the imposition of fines and that, under the Act, a custodial sentence did not appear possible.

The Magistrate’s concerns caused the DPP’s office to request a one hour adjournment so that it could review evidence. Mr Lottimore’s counsel, Mr Graveney Bannister strongly objected and asked for immediate adjudication.

The Magistrate finally ordered a ninety minute adjournment until noon (12:00pm) today.

Update 1:00pm: After lengthy legal arguments, Mr Lottimore was not sentenced, but remanded in custody pending sentencing. A social enquiry report and expedited psychological report was ordered.

#Airport #AirportSecurity #CrimeInBermuda #LorenzoLottimore #MagistratesAndSupremeCourt

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