Rasbert Turner, Gleaner Writer

Spanish Town, St. Catherine:

Two men wept openly in court on Friday after they were acquitted of extortion charges in the St. Catherine Circuit Court.

The men, Calbert Smith and Barrington Hudson of Portmore and Linstead, respectively, were charged by the police for making unwarranted demands by menace on a contractor at the Windalco mines between April 15 and 30.

Sting operation

The Crown outlined that haulage contractor Richard Bent reported to the police that Hudson, a chief union delegate, and Smith, a section delegate of the National Workers Union, informed him that if he did not pay over $100,000 to them, workers would have gone on strike, affecting his business.

The investigating officer, Detective Inspector Williams, testified before High Court Judge Bertram Morrison that a sting operation was set up during which Hudson was caught collecting the money along with Smith. They were arrested and charged.

Both men gave unsworn statements from the dock that they were only conducting union business.

Attorneys-at-law Peter Cha-pagnie and Keith Bishop submitted to the court that their clients did not make any demands or try to extort money from the contractor.

Having heard the evidence, the jurors retired for 36 minutes and returned a unnanimious verdict of not guilty. The men wept having head the verdict.

Historical case

They were charged under section 42 1A of the Larceny Act which, with a conviction, carries a sentence of up to 15 years.

According to Mr. Champagnie, it was a historical case as it was the first trial for extortion at the Circuit Court in Jamaica since Parliament amended the legislation to facilitate such a charge in 2005.