President of the National Association of Taxi Operators (NATO), Egerton Newman was last week sentenced to six months imprisonment in the Half-Way-Tree criminal court, St Andrew after pleading guilty to fraud charges.

Newman admitted to Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey that he had defrauded seven taximen (members of NATO) of over $36,000 with a promise that he could obtain taxi licences for them in 2005.

When the cabbies waited for sometime without getting their licences, the matter was reported to the police. But Newman was not charged until a fortnight ago, while he was in custody accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old schoolgirl.
When he returned to court Friday for sentencing, his attorney read a letter to the court signed by 11 persons from his hometown in Manchester attesting to his "impeccable character" and requesting the court to grant him leniency.

But the magistrate told Newman that he was involved in a racket knowing fully well that he had no power to issue road licences as that was the prerogative of a government agency.
Pusey then sentenced him to six months in prison, suspended for 12 months, meaning that if Newman breaks the law and is hauled before the court within 12 months, he will have to serve another six months in prison.

Newman who was refused bail on the sexual assault charge, was returned to custody and will reappear in court later this month for a preliminary inquiry into the sex charge.

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