“I escape out of frustration,” a father of eight yesterday told a city magistrate after he was charged with escaping from police custody, having been arrested on a fraud charge.
Paul Arjune appeared before Magistrate Leron Daly, who read a charge which stated that on April 5th, at Kitty, while in custody at the Kitty Police Station on a charge of fraudulent misappropriation, he escaped from custody.
A second charge was read against Arjune, alleging that on October 14th, 2017 at Georgetown, being entrusted by Liloutie Prashad with a Honda generator, in order that he may sell and return the proceeds, he fraudulently misappropriated it.
Arjune, 47, a mason, pleaded guilty to the first charge and asked to be able to explain. He pleaded not guilty to the second charge.
The second charge was later dismissed after the complainant stated that she no longer wished to proceed with the case.
When granted the opportunity to explain why he escaped from custody, Arjune told the court that he was frustrated because he is a father of eight and his common-law wife has an injured leg. He explained that he is the sole breadwinner for his family, with his children ranging in age from four to 13. Having been in custody for some time, Arjune said that he left his children with nothing to eat and escaped simply because he was frustrated.
Magistrate Daly, prior to sentencing the accused, asked if he wished to say anything, and after advice from an attorney who was present in the courtroom, the accused requested to change his plea to not guilty.
His bid for bail, however, was denied as Police prosecutor Sanj Singh objected, citing the fact that the accused knew what he was doing and never returned to the station after he escaped. Singh further stated that if granted bail Arjune would not return to court.
Subsequently, Magistrate Daly remanded Arjune to prison and adjourned the matter until April 27th.
