Resh­ma Ra­goonath

La Ro­main res­i­dent Nico­las Paul had heads turn­ing and tongues wag­ging when he ap­peared in the San Fer­nan­do Mag­is­trates' Court yes­ter­day dressed like a woman. Paul, who ap­peared in court charged with loi­ter­ing, cre­at­ed a stir when he was es­cort­ed to the Fourth Court. Mem­bers of the pub­lic and cu­ri­ous court staff rushed to see the man as he saun­tered across the cor­ri­dor be­fore be­ing tak­en be­fore Fifth Court Mag­is­trate Tara­mat­tie Ram­dass. Paul, dressed in a form-fit­ting red sweater over a net­ted top and fit­ted jeans with black boots, was greet­ed with snick­ers as he ap­peared be­fore Ram­dass charged with the sum­ma­ry of­fence.

When he en­tered the court­room on­look­ers leaned over and spoke in hushed tones to each oth­er while look­ing at Paul. Short­ly be­fore 2 pm Ram­dass read the charge that last Sat­ur­day Paul was found loi­ter­ing at Low­er High Street, San Fer­nan­do, around 11.15 pm. He plead­ed guilty to the charge. Ram­dass urged Paul to be more cau­tious, es­pe­cial­ly at night. "When you are on the road at that hour of the night, apart from not be­ing safe, the po­lice will stop. You need to stay off the road that hour of the night, cer­tain­ly by your­self," Ram­dass said. Po­lice pros­e­cu­tor at­tor­ney Ram­dath Phillip told the court that around 11.15 pm the po­lice of­fi­cers were on in­quiries along Low­er High Street when they saw Paul.

At that time, he said, Paul was stand­ing on the road­way look­ing in­to near­by busi­ness­places. Of­fi­cers ap­proached Paul and asked what was his rea­son for be­ing there at that time, he added. Phillip said Paul re­mained silent and was told of the of­fence of loi­ter­ing and was tak­en to the San Fer­nan­do Po­lice Sta­tion where he was charged. He said Paul had no pend­ing mat­ters or con­vic­tions. Paul, in his de­fence, said he went to the Au­to­mat­ic Teller Ma­chine (ATM) and was wait­ing for a taxi when the po­lice ar­rest­ed him. He said he spent about 19 min­utes wait­ing for trans­port. He said he had just left a club. Paul said he was un­em­ployed but he used to work with a pri­vate se­cu­ri­ty firm. Ram­dass said she would give him a chance since he had no pre­vi­ous con­vic­tions. She then rep­ri­mand­ed and dis­charged him.