SPANISH TOWN, St. Catherine:

A landlady, who asked the Jamaica Public Service Company to terminate the power supply to her tenants, wept openly when she was sentenced to 30 days at hard labour for breaching the Rent Assessment Board Act.

Sharon Russell-Brown, of Greater Portmore, St. Catherine, was first given 30 days in prison for cutting off the light on April 4, leaving the tenants and their young children in darkness. However, Resident Magistrate Lorna Errar Gayle later amended her ruling and slapped the weeping landlord with a 12-month suspended sentence.

In sentencing Brown on Tuesday, the Resident Magistrate said that even if the tenants owed bills, the person owning the premises only had the right to either pay the outstanding bill and sue for it later, or allow the utility company to terminate the service for the overdue amount on its own.

"Once you take it on yourself to ask them to cut off the power supply, then it is you who is responsible for causing the tenants whatever distress they might have suffered," she said.