Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterTHERE HAS been an out of court settlement in the General Consumption Tax (GCT) case which was brought against wheelchair-bound food and nutritionist Dr. Heather Little-White, who was assessed $143,000 on donations she had received to assist her with her surgery.
Dr. Little-White was left crippled after gunmen shot and injured her when she went to visit a friend in Barbican, St. Andrew on July 6, 1999.
"I am very happy that the case has been settled," she told The Gleaner yesterday. She said since her case was published in The Gleaner last month she got several calls from Tax Commissioner Clive Nicholas and other Revenue Department officials.
After she was assessed she applied to have the money paid on a monthly basis but her request was denied. The Revenue Department had given her a 90-day waiver but insisted that half of the money be paid before she could get the waiver. She was subsequently summoned to the Tax Court at Sutton Street Court. She last appeared on April 24 when the case was set for June 30.
AGREEMENT
Dr. Little-White disclosed yesterday that the agreement was that she is to pay the money on a monthly basis.
Members of the Paraplegic Development and Outreach Foundation (PARADOF) who turned up on April 24 to support Dr. Little-White, had demonstrated outside the courthouse, calling on the Government to make courthouses and other Government buildings accessible to the disabled.
The nutritionist was unable to go upstairs the courtroom because no one was available to lift her in the wheelchair. Fear was also expressed that the chair could be damaged or she could be hurt in the process.
Attorney-at-law Jacqueline Cummings, who represented Dr. Little-White, told Resident Magistrate Owen Parkin that her client was downstairs but could not enter the court building.
Errington Pellington, founder and director of PARADOF expressed disgust with the situation which faced the disabled in the society. He said the issue would be discussed at the Caribbean Conference on the Disabled which was scheduled in Kingston from May 11 to 13.
