BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – NEWRISH NITAL was this afternoon (July 21) sentenced to three years imprisonment by His Lordship Justice Errol Thomas at the Basseterre High Court.
However, before passing sentence, His Lordship told Nital, who was previously convicted of fraud, that his mitigating factors could not outweigh his act of total dishonesty and greed.
Nital was convicted of fraud on June 15 when the prosecution proved that on April 1, 2 and 4, 2008 he had presented several United States Postal Service International Postal Money Orders to a cashier at the Basseterre Post Office with intent to defraud.
It was also revealed in court that he successfully obtained EC$3 710, EC$1 855 and EC$3 710 on April 1, 2 and 4, respectively, from the cashier by presenting the money orders that later turned out to be fraudulent.
Nital was also said to have had a total of five US$700 money orders and had taken them to the postal office on the dates in question.
He was represented by Attorney-At-Law Anthony Johnson who also presented mitigations on behalf of his client at his sentencing hearing.
Johnson said Nital had expressed remorse for the incident that led to his conviction and sincerely apologises to all involved.
His attorney said that he also has no previous conviction.
Three character witnesses spoke on behalf of the educator and TV host, all of whom his lawyer said had one common theme that stood out - “his ability to help young children and transform their lives”.
The first character witness was the Joseph N. France General Hospital’s Chief of Staff, Dr. Cameron Wilkinson, who described Nital as a true friend.
He said that Nital is a very intelligent man, who is willing to share his knowledge, and that he is a great teacher who “inspires that help to transform the lives of many of our boys”.
Medical Practitioner Kathleen Allen-Ferdinand also spoke on behalf of Nital, and claimed that she had known him for 20 years.
She said Nital was able to motivate a lot of young people and has been helpful to her in the raising of her son. And Alphonso Bridgewater, General Manager of Solid Waste Management Corporation, said that Nital had helped his son as well.
Johnson said that Nital has a Bachelors of Arts in Chemistry, had taught various subjects, grew up in humble circumstance, served many years as a calypso judge, commentator and writer and also a sports enthusiast.
Before ending his mitigation, Johnson asked His Lordship to consider a suspended sentence; one which he gave to a recent local case that involved Esha and Amare Browne who were convicted of fraud.
According to his social inquiry report prepared by Probation Officer Wingrove George, Nital was able to still find favour with several people of good standings even in his darkest hour.
His Lordship said that the core of his offence was dishonesty and that it was not a case where it was a one-off mistake in error of judgment.
“You presented 13 money orders but were only found guilty of five. In the view of the court, you have disgraced the country, disappointed children who would grow up to be future professionals and destroyed the confidence parents imposed on you,” Judge Thomas said.
His Lordship noted said that, according to the evidence, Nital convinced the postal clerk to cash two of the money orders when their policy was one per day.
He also described Nital’s character witnesses as excellent and bright people and described him as a brilliant man.
“Everyone should be equal…cannot be a law for brilliant people and another law for less brilliant people. Despite all that have been said, to withhold a custodial sentencing would be sending a wrong signal and the court does not want to send a wrong signal,” Justice Thomas said before sentencing Nital.
For his three counts of fraud, Nital was sentenced to three years each that will run concurrently.
