A man who reportedly attempted to sell a car that he had not finished paying for was granted bail on Monday when he appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
Twenty-eight-year-old Shawn Anthony Sinclair of Prashad Nagar, pleaded not guilty to the charge of obtaining money by false pretence.
It is alleged that between November 7 last year and January 7 this year, Sinclair with intent to defraud obtained $1.7M from Alston Fardin under the pretext that he was in a position to provide him with a car in return.
However, Sinclair’s lawyer Mark Waldron stated that the incident was an unfortunate one. He said that his client had bought a Toyota car from Akbar Auto Sales at the cash price of $2.6M instead of on a layaway plan and so the car was registered in his client’s name. The attorney noted that his client had been driving the car for several months and decided to sell the car to Fardin for $1.7M but Akbar intervened in the transaction and demanded that it be sold at $3M. The lawyer also noted that Akbar had no say in the selling of the vehicle since Sinclair had already paid off for it.
The prosecution however stated that Sinclair had entered “a clause” with Akbar Auto Sales in which he could have purchased the car at the cash price of $2.6M within six months but beyond this period he would have had to pay $3.4M for the car instead. The prosecution noted that Sinclair had deposited the $2.6M but exceeded the six month period and so he was required to pay $3.4M instead. However, the prosecution stated, Sinclair attempted to sell the vehicle that he had not finished paying for, “which technically did not belong to him” and that was against the law.
Waldron then stated that “there was no criminal intent” present in the deal his client had made with Fardin, noting that the transaction was a legitimate one and so the Act under which his client was charged was not appropriate in the circumstance. The attorney then stated that his client further proved his “honesty” by recompensing Fardin with $400,000.
The magistrate subsequently placed Sinclair on bail in the sum of $100,000 and ordered that he return to court on April 17.