Roland Joseph of Delices has been remanded to the Dominica State Prison as he is considered a threat to the community after allegedly attempting to burn a garage, which housed several vehicles, belonging to Glenroy Hilaire, whom he claims owes him money.
On July 18, Joseph was seen at the said garage holding a cigarette lighter and an empty white tube in his hand, stating, “I will burn Africa house and all the vehicles in his garage” when police arrived on the scene. The garage smelled of gasoline, according to police.
When he appeared before Chief Magistrate Evelina Baptiste on Monday, Joseph pleaded guilty to threats.
According to the prosecutor, the complainant had first reported the threats to police at about 9:40 a.m. on the said date, which prompted Corporal Fagan to confront the defendant to caution him.
At about 1 p.m. on that same day, another report of threats came in and Corporal Fagan went to the garage in Delices where he met the defendant attempting to burn the property.
When the officer spoke, Joseph said, “don’t come any closer”, the prosecutor said. After some time Corporal Fagan persuaded the Joseph to give up the lighter and was arrested.
In mitigation, 39-year-old Joseph told the court, “Africa owing me a lot of money. School going to open and I need my money to buy my books for my children. I went by Africa home for my money.”
“So you think by threatening to burn down Glenroy’s place it would make things better for you?” the magistrate asked, to which he replied “I thought so”.
“We don’t practice the law of the jungle here…,” Magistrate Baptiste warned.
She fined Joseph $750 to be paid by November 1, 2010 or he faces six months in prison.
A preliminary inquiry into the charge of attempted arson against Joseph will begin on September 8, 2010 at Delices. Attempted arson is an indictable offense.
The prosecution objected to bail for the defendant which was later denied. “It appears that the defendant still has plans of carrying out the threats,” the prosecutor argued.
Bail will be reviewed in due course, according to Magistrate Baptiste.
u all are family stupedu guys roots from petite saven africa allways hard to pay his workas.lapo its time now to chiil that tamper u allways have .cut it out yoo
The judge did not even rule on the matter at hand, so ofcourse there is still going to be problems. Why the judge did not tell glenroy to pay roland his money? That is what cause the trouble in the first place. so if anymore trouble happen i will blame the judge for it. Justice is not been serve.
boy frustration can make man do things!!!he doesn’t have money to buy supplies for his kids,where he gonna get $750 to pay the court.all this could been avoided if Africa paid the man his money.
but if he succeeded in burning the place down,he would never get his money back cause the guy would need the money to rebuild,now that everybody even the court knows the fella owes him there might be a chance he will pay him now.
Man just give the man his money. Gason pay up pay the man.
It is sad what this time we are living in has come to. All this drama could’ve been avoided if the guy had just paid up from the very beginning. Torching the place is not the best solution at hand but when a man is frustrated he does the unthinkables. It’s not a wise habit to owe peeps especially large sums of cash. Everyone have Responsibilities.
Sad story eh! Just give de man his money. Some people think is dey alone dat have children to feed. Maybe this man needs to sell one of his cars to pay the man back. And what does the judge mean by “we don’t practice law of the Jungle here?” Because de man from country? So rude
i hope the money that the man owes him is enough to pay the court.
This is BS!!! All this could have been avoided if he had just pay the man.
You owe de man pay de man. You rather lost your business than paying up?
AFRICA YOU KNOW YOU HAVE BAD RABIT …PAY THE MAN HIS MONEY…………….YOUR HOLD FAMILY THEM DON’T LIKE TO PAY PEOPLE DOH WORRY… WHAT’S GO AROUND COMES AROUND……………. YOU HAVE BAPTISTE TELLING DE MAN ABOUT JUNGLE WHAT DOES SHE MEAN BY THAT EH……………….
PAY DE MAN HIS MONEY YOU KNOW YOU OWE DE MAN……
Hold on Cuz….. What goes around comes around. It is sad that they think you are a threat. To Who I would ask? My prayers are with you. Stay strong.
We need small claims court in Dominica for when man owning many money they can sue without attorney. Right now man thinking they don’t have recourse so they taking things in their own hand. How burning down a man property going to solve a problem? Look how a man almost lose his life for a 20 dollars in Salisbury the other day. stupes. I hope after Mr. Joseph pay his fine he get some serious counsilling for his temper. I find it real sad ad ironic that the man want money to send his children to school and he not even realizing the best teacher his children will ever get is him and how he behave will have more of a impact on his children’s future than school uniforms and books. He really miss that lesson eh.
what has this world come to?