A 20-year-old man was sentenced to six months imprisonment last Friday for bribing a Police officer.

On September 1 this year Pawan Ravikesh Kumar, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, provided a benefit of $200 to a Police constable with the intention of influencing the public official in the exercise of his duty.

He pleaded guilty to the offence and was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment on November 1, 2017.

Aggrieved by his sentence and conviction, Kumar filed eight grounds of appeal in the High Court.

The facts revealed that on the day of the alleged offence, a Police officer flagged down Kumar’s car to stop at a random roadside checkpoint.

Instead of stopping, Kumar drove off and was pursued by the officer who managed to stop him.

The officer told Kumar to get out of the vehicle and hand the key over to him at which point Kumar approached the officer and begged him to release the vehicle in return for $200.

He was arrested and charged with bribery.

In mitigation Kumar submitted that he was married with a seven-month-old baby and was the sole breadwinner for his family.

He had also entered an early guilty plea, was remorseful and had previous good character.

Judge Justice Daniel Goundar highlighted that the maximum penalty for bribery is 10 years imprisonment.

Justice Goundar said Kumar was a member of the public who offered a small amount of cash to a Police officer to get himself off for breaking the law.

He said a custodial sentence was inevitable however Kumar’s mitigating factors were compelling adding that there were no aggravating factors.

His sentence was imposed effective from November 1, 2017.

Edited by Jonathan Bryce

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