$10,000 fine for breaching curfew to attend to injured toe

A 27-year-old caterer who took a chance to visit his aunt to treat an injury to his toe was fined  $10,000 on Monday by a Couva magistrate for breaching curfew on Friday night.

Shavid McLeod, of Claxton Bay, was given three months to pay the fine by magistrate Alexander Prince.

McLeod pleaded guilty when he appeared virtually before the magistrate for breaching Friday’s 7 pm-5 am curfew.

In a plea for leniency, his attorney Bhimal Maharajh told the magistrate McLeod suffers from asthma and was hospitalised last year. The attorney said before his arrest on June 18, McLeod injured his toe and chose to visit an aunt, a registered nurse who lives five houses away, to have the wound dressed rather than go to a medical facility for treatment because of covid19.

Maharajh said the 7 pm curfew hour crept up on McLeod, who took the chance to return home when police stopped and arrested him.

Pandemic restrictions and a state of emergency, which includes a curfew, have been implemented to curb the rising number of covid19 cases. There is an extended curfew for weekends of 7 pm-5 am, starting Friday and ending on Monday.

For the month of July, the 9 pm-5 am curfew will resume on weekends.

Under the regulations, the maximum penalty for a breach is a $250,000 fine and six months in prison.