Jamaica: $500,000 bail granted for policewoman suspected of forging divorce document
Policewoman Juliet McKay, accused of forging a judge's signature on a divorce document, was granted $500,000 bail.
Her attorney Peter Champagnie QC made an impassioned plea for her to be released on bail.
The detective sergeant, who had been in custody for 1 year and eight months and was denied bail on previous occasions, openly wept as the offer of bail was made to her in the Supreme Court by Justice Leighton Pusey.
McKay was charged in July 2019 with uttering forged documents following a ruling from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
It is being alleged that the policewoman forged a judge's signature on a divorce document and passed it on as genuine to the complainant who wanted a divorce.
The complainant claimed that McKay had represented herself as a paralegal who could process the divorce.
On her last court appearance, McKay had insisted on having her matter tried by a jury instead of a judge alone.
Her trial, which was to begin today, could not proceed to owe to the suspension of all jury trials due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In requesting bail, Champagnie argued that it would have been a grave injustice to have his client in custody in circumstances where a likely trial date would be a year from now and regard all the attendant circumstances.
He further argued that his client has consistently denied the allegations and that other evidence had come forward to suggest that his client was not the one responsible for any forgery.
In the interim, a case management hearing is set for June 21.
Her case next comes up for trial on February 12, 2024.
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