21-Year-Old Soldier Jailed For 30 Days
In Magistrates Court this morning [Aug 14], Richard Trott, aged 21 and a member of the Bermuda Regiment, was sent to jail for thirty days after pleading guilty to charges of failing to attend for military duties and of disobeying orders.
The Crown Prosecutor told the Senior Magistrate that Trott, who had been enlisted in the Bermuda Regiment in December 2008, had only attended 36.5 drills in the whole period of time that he had been serving, and that this was below the required minimum of 40 drills per year that was set out in the Defence Act, 1965.
The Crown Prosecutor told the Magistrate that Trott was specifically charged with eight absences between 12th June 2010 and 24th October 2010. Pte Trott was also charged with failing to complete five extra duties as had been ordered by the Bermuda Regiment’s Commanding Officer.
The Crown Prosecutor told the Senior Magistrate that in the Magistrate’s Court, the maximum punishments for these offences was a fine of $2,250 and three months in prison.
Asked why he hadn’t attended for military duties, Trott told the Magistrate that he “has serious asthma and couldn’t attend…”. The Magistrate questioned the Regiment’s Adjutant who was in attendance.
The Adjutant reported that the Regiment offered free medical examinations to its soldiers, that any problem medical condition could be determined with relative ease, that Trott’s medical condition was checked when he first enlisted, and that this medical record was part of his file.
The Senior Magistrate asked Trott: “Do you intend to go back?” Trott never answered that question. After listening to mitigating submissions by the Court’s Duty Counsel, the Senior Magistrate said that he would ordinarily award a prison sentence, but suspend that sentence if the defendant agreed to return to military duty and perform his duties as required.
The Magistrate said that in this case, given Trott’s refusal to answer, he would award an immediate custodial sentence of thirty days.
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Good on Archie.
Rules are rules.
Rules maybe wrong?
You have to be some sort of fullish to get sent to JAIL for not going camp. The skivers of Bermuda are obviously not as good as they used to be.
Double standards agwan. I’m a white boy who showed up maybe twice at camp, was arrested at the airport, taken to camp to explain my absences, and let off without so much as a fine.
Double standards. This doesn’t happen to women
And?!
and why did I get away with it and this guy didn’t? Doesn’t make sense.
I wasn’t replying to you.
Cooper – I am EXTREMELY doubtful that what you wrote was the case. Once again it always takes someone to bring up the race issue…..how disappointing.
Have another drink ‘Coopy’
Doubt it.
have to shake your head on this one. Army should be voluntary. Authorites need to concentrate on the unsolved murders. instead of army recruitment they should recruit more man power / police for the crimes that are running rampant on our small island.
F@&# the regiment!
Could Magistrate Warner go and sit in on Family Court sometime soon please? The deliquent fathers need a good shakeup instead of a slap on the wrist that they currently get.
Regiment is a joke. I was up there and I would never have signed anything in the beginning if I had known how much of a waste of time and life it is.
For the medical they just want to see you naked.
…Really? No one ever saw me naked up there…did they tell you they had to take your temperature with an over sized anal thermometer too? I’ll let you in on a secret, if the doc had both hands on your shoulders, chances are it wasn’t a thermometer…regiment isn’t that hard, suck it up, be a man, do your 3 years and leave. If you calculate all the time your up there it probably doesn’t even equate to a year, and these days they get out early. Rain jackets and 9 30 dismissal? Unheard of in my day.
whoever told you that the medical just wants to see you naked they are lying because the Bermuda Regiment has a good amount of people for their medical team and no they do not want to see you naked they are there for the safety of the recruits and to make sure that the recruits get the medical support they need if be.
He broke the law and now must serve his time.
As for double standards, this doesn’t happen to women because they are not breaking any laws. As for being a “white boy”, all races must serve their time and if they break the law, they too will do time. If you can provide solid evidence of biasness, then you can talk. Personal experience, again needs evidence, is not the majority.
If the law needs changing, then change it. Until then, serve your time and suck it up. Just like any other law, you can’t just go around breaking it just because you are against it.
What else is funny is if he had just done what he was supposed to do and show up to camp he would have been finished by now. Enrolled since 2008….. They should make him stay up there for another 3 years.
Yes you can…it’s called civil disobedience. It’s what was done during the civil rights movement in order to overturn unjust Jim Crow laws.
Point noted. BUT the civil rights movement was a collectively organised movement against those laws. Nothing organised about this cases. If he wanted a collective movement, he should have joined B.A.D and argued his cases with them. Unfortunately, their movement isn’t moving anywhere.
Yeah but this isn’t an unjust Jim Crow law. It applies to black, white, portuguese and all else.
If you don’t like. Get politically active and force change.
One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
Here we go again .. another topic/thread destined to become a whipping post for all those against serving in the Army , or doing ANYTHING free for their community.
Complain all you want , justify it in any way you can imagine , but it’s the law and until it changes , suck it up and do your time without complaint.
It just so happens that most employers favourably view someone as a job applicant who has completed their Regimental call up without problems and done the entire three years trouble free.
This thread will no doubt end up looking like the others that involve herb and all its proponents. Lobby for a change if you’re so passionate about it. Make the current government change it before the next election ,if not don’t vote for them. Then maybe we’ll stand a chance .
Regiment should be Voluntary there are enough people out there that enjoy it. Warner must really have it out for the young of bermuda geesh jail time for traffic offences and now not attending regiment what next. Do you forget what happens to some of these guys when they go i am pretty sure one of the officers long serving is on BERMUDA PEDO on facebook. As for the doctor well he told me my son had strep throat and he had bronchitis which he never had before in his whole 18 years.
maybe if they just go up there for the amount of years that they needed to go and stop trying to “skip out” or try and avoid going then they should not have a problem with getting arrested for not going to the regiment they should have went and got it over with he gets nwhat he deserves.
Really they did not volunter. The are forced to go. Let me force you to do something you don’t want to do for three years and see how you like it.
this is hilarious ppl complain bout the regiment all the time cause they don’t wanna go. i never wanted 2 4 other reasons but now can’t wait 2 get up there. they ain’t gon know what 2 do I’m ready. but they better have some new intimidation methods cause that screaming cursing n talking bad I’m immune 2
S/N: B.A.D is 2 extreme 4 a part time military all that time they spending going 2 court they could b doing there time up regiment. but that’s there view n who m i 2 object what they do other than simply not joining it
Oh I’m sure they know how to deal with you!
what is that supposed to mean?
Point of order. Portuguese is not a race the regiment is a joke its for fanatical and psychotic generals and sergeants etc. Who get their kicks out of ordering young men around. And try and break the recruits spirits so they will do whatever they are told to do. The young men are more passive so they want object to being mistreated..
Point of order. There are no generals in our regiment. The officers up there, commissioned and non-commissioned, do not order these guys around just for kicks, its a system that works, and in order for it to work everyone has to do their part, and its time tested. They yell at you and order you around in camp so that, god forbid, you actually had to use what you are being trained for, that officer can have complete confidence in the ability and compliance of his men…or people could potentially die. Also they don’t break your spirit to make you more passive, they break your spirit to bring you to your lowest point, from there the only way to go is up, its a tactic of morale. It builds character to fight back up from rock bottom. This is why the second week of boot camp is always easier, not physically but mentally easier. The only difference between a good day and a bad day, is YOUR attitude. Its a little like being told to eat your veggies before you can dig into your ribeye. I’m not one to defend the regiment but I had to accept responsibility for my choices up there too, the experience made a difference to who I am today and without the regiment I wouldn’t be in the line of work I’m in. Many will agree and many will say the opposite, to each their own.
Defense Act of 1965…who are you defending against? The US? The Commonwealth? The…Oh, foreign and domestic. I see. Put the military resources to good use and be an extension of the police. The regiment sounds like a good place to be for offenders of the law. Clear their brains of what has been planted, educate and send them on their way to be better people…”wishful thinking.”
This is so stupiddd and such a waste of money and just shows that the system contiunes to be a bully. I know people that have wanted to volunteer but were turned away do to budget constraints. So why have people up there getting paid if they opt not to go :s it makes no sense to me. Now your going to send this dude up for 30 days and take more money from the public purse unecessarily to jail someone that doesnt’t want to be in the army in the first place??? C’mon Son!!!!
In other news, we still have real criminals walking amongst us.
Perhaps the thugs that walk on our streets should be called into Bermuda Regiment.
@Hmph: What needs to happen is that the Regiment needs to go around to the high schools in the senior years and have access to school records. The boys who are missing school consistently, getting suspensions, bad grades, not doing community service and all in all look like they’re headed down the wrong tracks should AUTOMATICALLY be drafted into the Regiment. These are the guys who need discipline in their lives and set straight before it’s too late..
It’s better to get those guys at 18 when there’s a chance of straightening them out rather than paying for them to be in prison and generally causing problems in society. The guys who go and do their service to the Regiment with no problem are also probably not going to be a problem in society-clearly many of them are law-abiding if they do what they are required to do. I see so many guys in the Regiment who work at responsible jobs and are decent guys-it’s almost like the Regiment is wasted on them because they’d turn out well regardless.
The responsible guys go in and do their time and then what? Do they utilize the discipline the Regiment instilled in them or would they have been disciplined anyway? Most would be. That’s why I say it’s almost a waste. Grab all those other guys who’d be hoodlums and do something with them. Instil the discipline in them that they didn’t get at home. Again, go to the schools and talk to the teachers, principals and counsellors and they’ll tell the Regiment who needs straightening out and who definitely needs the Regiment. I’ll bet this idea never gets implemented because it would be too hard for the Regiment to chase up all these guys…they’d rather just chase up the few a year who go AWOL then tons of guys. However, if the country is serious about reducing crime, etc. they should consider something like this.
BTW-Can someone tell me why Customs officers are not exempt from Regiment duties like the other officers such as prison, fire and police? These guys are already law-abiding citizens serving their country and deserve an exemption just like the other officers of the law!
hey you young lot out there. let you in on a little secret…If you don’t want to go simply ignore every letter Regiment ever sends you and never go the first time. regiment only hunts you down if you sign up and go that first time. Never reply to those letters ever. Somebody tell me I’m lying.
They changed the law some time back… That doesn’t work anymore… Time for a new tactic.
I feel sad that Richard had to go jail for this.
Um, maybe his lack of resources should be considered.
He needs a little help and direction.
Motivating him is not going to happen up Westgate.
Not everybody is mentally ready for the Regiment
and all the other systems built for the average Joe.
Jailing those who need special help is never going to be the answer.
This guy doesn’t need jail, he needs a little hand up. In jail some daddy will hand him a gun and worsen him.
If he was in need he wouldn’t ask for help!
Jus saying. Maybe our big giving Bermuda spirit could help our own young men who “need” us.
Some daddies don’t help not one bit and these guys don’t all respond and prosper.
I love you Richard and wish you the best. Bless him Lord and anyone who will help Richard. Amen.
Like the lady earlier said, can maybe a daddy be found to ask where’s his contribution and maybe collect some funds instead of being jailed for non compliance? Or is it okay for the source of the problem to go on and make more babies?
this guy missed a few days , but u have guys out there fighting not to go in . been to england and all . how time did they get . some shit
He should have been given 160 hours of community work instead. Save taxpayer dollars. Now he gets to do what he wants sleep, eat and not have to work.