The Court of Appeal has reversed the acquittal of an amateur radio operator from west Trinidad for failing to have a Telecommunications Authority of T&T (TATT) licence.
Delivering a 20-page judgment on Thursday, Appellate Judges Alice Yorke-Soo Hon and Mark Mohammed reversed the decision of a magistrate to free 43-year-old Desi-Lee Bonterre, of King Street, Point Cumana, based on the failure of TATT to prove that equipment seized at his property was capable of transmitting radio communications.
The decision was a landmark ruling for TATT as the case was the first of its kind to be prosecuted by it.
While the court criticised the magistrate for failing to provide reasons for the decision, they said that the evidence clearly showed she was wrong.
“The evidence of the prosecution witnesses was clear, cogent and compelling. In our view, the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt,” they said.
As a result of the decision, Bonterre, an employee of international courier Fedex, was immediately placed in the prisoner’s enclosure of the court to be sentenced.
His attorney Shastri Roberts submitted that the court should reprimand and discharge his client as the evidence did not suggest that he had used the equipment for financial gain and based on the fact that he was eventually granted a licence by TATT in 2014.
Roberts also noted that Bonterre was the vice president of a local team of REACT—an international organisation for amateur radio operators, who provide services in emergency and disaster situations. He claimed that the equipment that was found at his home was used for REACT.
TATT’s prosecutor Sean Cazabon disagreed as he suggested that Bonterre be fined to have a deterrent effect on would-be offenders.
Under the Telecommunications Act, the offence carries a fine of up to $250,000 and up to five years imprisonment.
He also noted that Bonterre was charged by TATT when its investigators raided his property after receiving complaints from police over interference on their signals in the area. However, there was no evidence that Bonterre was responsible.
The judges eventually adjourned the case to February 8, next year to allow Roberts to present more information on Bonterre.