Barbados Defence Force (BDF) soldier Private Raheem Reeves has been sentenced to 90 days imprisonment at Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds, pending confirmation by Chief of Staff, Commodore Errington Shurland.
Reeves had pleaded not guilty that he, without reasonable excuse, left a sanitisation team of the Florence Gittens Medical Facility duty, of which he formed a part, before he was permitted to do so, on March 14, 2021.
The panel of president Lieutenant Commander John Mapp, Captain Natalie Haynes and Sub-Lieutenant Alexander Kellman, took nearly two hours to reach a unanimous decision. Earlier, they had found Reeves guilty by unanimous decision.
Following the decision, Reeves, 26, was handed over to the BDF’s Military Police after being placed in closed arrest.
Defence counsel, Michael Lashley QC said he intended to appeal the verdict, and noted that at one point one of the members of the panel had been Reeves’ commanding officer.
The month-long trial, which took place at the BDF’s Hodgson Hall, St Ann’s Fort, Garrison, St Michael headquarters, was led by Judge Advocate Principal Crown Counsel Krystal Delaney, while prosecutor Waiting member was listed as Sub-Lieutenant Jamal Wiggins. was Captain Neville Corbin. (RA)
