OFFENDERS looking to bury past mistakes will have to follow protocol to have them erased.
The courts have made this clear after a lawyer asked for a man with an offence from ten years ago to be regarded as a first offender.
The issue came up recently in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court when attorney at law Arthur Holder, representing drug convict Craig Bernard Holmes, 41, said his client’s last conviction was in 1994 and because of the time between offences, he should be seriously treated as a first-time offender for having 92 cannabis wrappings and 14 wrappings of cocaine.
Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant said Holmes could only be considered as such if an application was accepted to have the records wiped cleaned.
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