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J'can charged in N Zealand bomb scare
BY COREY ROBINSON Sunday Observer staff reporter [email protected]
Sunday, January 10, 2010
A Jamaican man accused of sparking a bomb scare during an attempted bank robbery in Wellington, New Zealand last month could spend more than 20 years in prison after he was slapped with three additional charges on Friday.
According to a report on New Zealand newspaper The Dominion Post's website, 34-year-old Paul-Martin Williams, who is of a Kingston address, was also charged with threatening, by letter, to kill a bank employee and her family, and with using a threat to demand $100,000 with intent to steal it.
Williams, who appeared in the Wellington District Court on Friday, has also been charged with threatening to do an act likely to cause major property damage, "namely to blow up the bank", The Dominion Post said.
According to other news reports out of New Zealand, Williams, who was in that country on a work visa, fled to Sydney, Australia on a Jamaican passport after the December 9 incident which crippled parts of central Wellington as streets were cordoned off and traffic diverted for almost four hours.
Williams was nabbed by Australian Federal Police at Sydney Airport in Australia on December 17 before boarding a connecting flight to Canada, The Dominion Post article said. He was extradited from Sydney late last Wednesday night.
"Williams faces four charges relating to a bomb scare on December 9, which caused the evacuation of 200 people from the National Bank Building on Featherston Street," The Dominion Post website stated. "Three of the charges carry maximum jail terms of seven years. The charge of demanding money carries a maximum jail term of 14 years," it added.
Police say Wellington stood outside the National Bank on Featherston Street and gave an unsuspecting person a note to give to a teller inside the establishment.
After the letter, which said that there was a bomb in the building, was delivered, he turned and walked away.
The incident resulted in the evacuation of workers from that and surrounding buildings, and the closing of several roads as bomb experts, using sniffer dogs, combed the premises for explosives.
None was found. However, police say the hoax was part of an attempt to rob the bank.
According to the website, Williams entered no plea and was remanded in custody until January 29 when he is to reappear in court.
The article also said the presiding judge, Mike Behrens, ordered that images of him captured on the bank's security cameras be suppressed. However, the judge allowed publication of his name.
The Dominion Post also reported Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Borrell as saying that if convicted, Williams could serve his sentence in New Zealand rather than be sent back to Jamaica.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Yesterday, the Sunday Observer was told that Williams is a member of a prominent Jamaican family</span>. However, the newspaper was unable to confirm this.
BY COREY ROBINSON Sunday Observer staff reporter [email protected]
Sunday, January 10, 2010
A Jamaican man accused of sparking a bomb scare during an attempted bank robbery in Wellington, New Zealand last month could spend more than 20 years in prison after he was slapped with three additional charges on Friday.
According to a report on New Zealand newspaper The Dominion Post's website, 34-year-old Paul-Martin Williams, who is of a Kingston address, was also charged with threatening, by letter, to kill a bank employee and her family, and with using a threat to demand $100,000 with intent to steal it.
Williams, who appeared in the Wellington District Court on Friday, has also been charged with threatening to do an act likely to cause major property damage, "namely to blow up the bank", The Dominion Post said.
According to other news reports out of New Zealand, Williams, who was in that country on a work visa, fled to Sydney, Australia on a Jamaican passport after the December 9 incident which crippled parts of central Wellington as streets were cordoned off and traffic diverted for almost four hours.
Williams was nabbed by Australian Federal Police at Sydney Airport in Australia on December 17 before boarding a connecting flight to Canada, The Dominion Post article said. He was extradited from Sydney late last Wednesday night.
"Williams faces four charges relating to a bomb scare on December 9, which caused the evacuation of 200 people from the National Bank Building on Featherston Street," The Dominion Post website stated. "Three of the charges carry maximum jail terms of seven years. The charge of demanding money carries a maximum jail term of 14 years," it added.
Police say Wellington stood outside the National Bank on Featherston Street and gave an unsuspecting person a note to give to a teller inside the establishment.
After the letter, which said that there was a bomb in the building, was delivered, he turned and walked away.
The incident resulted in the evacuation of workers from that and surrounding buildings, and the closing of several roads as bomb experts, using sniffer dogs, combed the premises for explosives.
None was found. However, police say the hoax was part of an attempt to rob the bank.
According to the website, Williams entered no plea and was remanded in custody until January 29 when he is to reappear in court.
The article also said the presiding judge, Mike Behrens, ordered that images of him captured on the bank's security cameras be suppressed. However, the judge allowed publication of his name.
The Dominion Post also reported Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Borrell as saying that if convicted, Williams could serve his sentence in New Zealand rather than be sent back to Jamaica.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Yesterday, the Sunday Observer was told that Williams is a member of a prominent Jamaican family</span>. However, the newspaper was unable to confirm this.
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