MoBay man in poisoned cake saga freed
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE MAN charged with soliciting to commit murder after he allegedly sought the help of a student to poison Montego Bay Community College viceprincipal Carol Walters was yesterday freed of the charge in the St James Circuit Court.
Norval Bulgin, who was making his first appearance in the Circuit Court, was freed by presiding High Court Justice Glen Brown after the prosecution entered a no-evidence motion in the defendant’s favour, citing the complainant’s unwillingness to pursue the matter any further.
The no-evidence motion was submitted after the court was told that prior to the matter’s transferral from the St James Parish Court last September, Walters gave a statement to the police indicating that she did not wish to continue with the case.
“The matter was committed to the Circuit Court on September 16, 2019, but the statement was taken from Ms Walters on June 7. It was decided that the matter could not have been disposed of in the lower court,” prosecutor Ashtelle Steele told Justice Brown, in explaining why the case was not immediately dismissed in the Parish Court.
But Justice Brown voiced displeasure at how the matter had been handled even as he dismissed the case against Bulgin.
“I’m trying to wrap my head around this because everybody knows what they were planning to do ... . Just for the record, if there are any more matters like this, I am not going to deal with it,” Brown said sternly before allowing Bulgin to leave the courtroom.
According to the allegations, on April 16, 2019, Bulgin offered to pay a student at the Montego Bay Community College to give a poisoned cake to Walters. Instead of accepting the offer, the student reported the matter to Walters.
Bulgin was later arrested and charged.
The accused had been reportedly angry with Walters, whom he believed was trying to have him fired as the school’s bus driver. It has not been ascertained what led him to hold that belief.
If the case had been tried and Bulgin was convicted, he could have faced a sentence of five years to life in prison.