Conditional Discharge For Offensive Words

In Magistrates Court this morning [Sept 18], after pleading guilty to using offensive words to police, an 18-year-old college student received a Conditional Discharge.

The facts read to Senior Magistrate Archie Warner were that around 2:45am on 15th September at the Bermuda College in Paget, the teenager had sworn at Police officers. Giving his side of the story to the Magistrate, he said that he’d come out of the Bermuda College and had been accosted by Police.

He told the Magistrate that Police were conducting random searches and had stopped him, were patting him down, and that he objected to this treatment. He admitted using offensive words.

Asked by the Magistrate if he had been studying at 2:45am, he admitted that he had been at a party and had been drinking. Duty Counsel Susan Moore-Williams assisted the defendant and pointed out that he was a young man with a future, had no previous convictions, had readily admitted guilt, and had his parents in Court with him today. She asked that the matter be dealt with by way of a Conditional Discharge.

The Senior Magistrate asked the teenager if he understood what effect a criminal conviction could have. The teenager, who said that he was intending to back to school in Miami, said that he knew that it could result in his being unable to travel to the USA.

The Senior Magistrate said he would give the teenager some gratuitous advice. He told him that if he saw Police carrying out their duty, he should avoid getting mixed up in it; and that if he couldn’t handle his drink, he should avoid drinking.

Magistrate Warner said that in the circumstances, with the evidence he had heard, he would grant a Conditional Discharge.

#BermudaTeens #MagistratesAndSupremeCourt

Category: All, Court Reports, Crime