I want back my gold chain

A 72-year-old man who wants to get back the $5,000 gold chain he bought for the 30-something-year-old woman he was courting in 2015, has been advised to file a petty civil claim against her.

Herbert Scantlebury said he took his case to the Court of Appeal hoping for justice after he claimed he was tricked by the woman into purchasing the jewellery for her birthday in hope that she would visit him at home.

He had filed a private complaint of unlawfully obtaining property against Joanne Edwards but this was dismissed in the magistrates’ court.

He appealed and explained to Justices of Appeal Alice Yorke-Soo Hon and Mark Mohammed yesterday that he and the woman were courting and he would take her to parties and shopping. He said for her birthday she asked him to buy her the chain and told him she would visit him at home, where he expected they would have sex.

He gave her the chain, but when she failed to visit him he called her and was told she was in Tobago with her friend.

Scantlebury said he was a virile man with a young child and he was coming to the “highest court in the land” for justice. He said he did not take the law into his own hands and do something unlawful or “like the boys on the street.”

All he wanted, he said, was the chain or the money he spent for it.

Soo Hon explained to him that his was a hard case to fix according to the law since false representation cannot be based on a promise. She advised him to file a civil claim instead.
He has until May to do so.

“Sometimes people do what they want and come to the court to fix it,” Soo Hon said as she advised him of the option open to him.

Edwards, meanwhile, admitted she took the chain, but said she never promised Scantlebury anything in return. She said she told him that “sex was not going to happen,” and that she was “not of this” but he insisted on giving her the chain.

“Why should I go through this?” she asked.

Asked if she considered returning the jewellery, she said she was but it was “snatched off” her neck.