BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE case of the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Hon. Curtis Martin against Paul 'Fergie' Ferguson, who was charged with threatening language, was dismissed.
The case was dismissed today (Jan. 7) at the District ‘A’ Magistrate Court in Basseterre by Her Worship Josephine Mallalieu.
SKNVibes spoke with Ferguson who explained that having to appear at Court on a number of occasions to have the matter dealt with, the case was dismissed due to the fact that after more than one year the prosecution was not prepared to move forward with it.
"Essentially, what happened was that the Police Prosecution requested an adjournment of the matter based upon instructions from the DPP [Director of Public Prosecution] who indicated that he personally wanted to handle this case himself," Ferguson said.
He told this publication that the Magistrate lamented the fact that the case had been going on for over one year and she questioned whether or not the Prosecution was prepared to move forward with it and if there were any witnesses, to which the reply was in the negative.
"After they said that, she then declared that the matter was dismissed," the former host of WINN FM's call-in programme 'Voices' said.
It was alleged that on Saturday, December 8, 2012, while at one of the business entities at The Strip in Frigate Bay, Ferguson saw Martin in the company of a female and allegedly attempted to take his photograph.
Apparently, Martin was not in agreement with it and a verbal confrontation ensued, in which it was said that Ferguson allegedly used threatening language to him.
The matter was reported to the Frigate Bay Police Station and this media house learnt that a warrant was issued for Ferguson’s arrest.
Additional information reaching this media house stated that police officers, armed with M16 Rifles, arrested Ferguson at about 5:00 p.m. on December 11, 2012 and took him into custody at the Frigate Bay Police Station.
He was subsequently charged with threatening language and released on bail after being processed - fingerprinted and photographed.
The following day he was taken to the District ‘A’ Magistrate Court in Basseterre and granted bail in the sum of EC$1 000 with one surety.
Speaking with Ferguson today, he told SKNVibes that the situation is a travesty of the justice system and that "the whole matter was contrived", adding that "the claimant did not even, on any one occasion, show up for the matter".
He said that "they couldn't present anything that was substantial against me. This stemmed from my taking a picture of the Speaker of the House and he was offended by it".
Ferguson said that because of that, the charge was "concocted" against him.
"In a real sense, it's an attempt to really damage my reputation which is something that I don't take very lightly at all. I am a law abiding citizen and I see the matter as a very serious attempt to tarnish my reputation," he added.
When contacted to get his views on the case, the Speaker said he has "no comment whatsoever".
