By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

A MAN has been sentenced to two years in prison after claiming he fled police because he feared being chased by a mob, a story that was contradicted by witnesses and police who testified there was no mob and that his actions were a deliberate attempt to evade arrest.

Cheguevera Moxey was accused of attempting to flee police and charged with causing damage on November 23, 2020. Allegedly fearing for his life after being accused of raping a young woman, he reversed his vehicle into a police car and damaged a fence and a van in an attempt to escape.

He had been charged with the attempted kidnapping of Chinique Joseph on November 20, 2020, but was acquitted of that charge.

Moxey claimed during the trial: “My life was in jeopardy. I feared for my life.”  He alleged that he tried to flee after being confronted by a mob who accused him of raping a family member. “I done see them feeling for something, and they coming at me. I jump in my car. I put it in reverse. I ain’t see nothing. I just trying to get off the scene,” he said. 

Moxey was identified as a suspect in the attempted kidnapping of Ms Joseph. Police said when officers instructed him to exit his vehicle, Moxey refused, and as he attempted to escape, he reversed into a police car. Dorene Renae, a witness, described how Moxey reversed into the police car and then collided with a fence and a van in an attempt to evade arrest.

“After hitting the vehicle, the car stopped for a few seconds, and the officer that was in the front passenger seat exited the vehicle with his firearm withdrawn and demanded the male out of his vehicle,” she said, according to Justice Franklyn Williams’s judgement. “This man then drove forward and then stopped and reversed again, hitting the neighbor’s fence on the southern side of the street. Then, he continued reversing, and he struck a white van that was parked on the southern side of the street. Then veered right where he collided into a wall on the northern side of the street.”

In sentencing the man, Justice Williams considered mitigating and aggravating factors. He noted that Moxey had no previous criminal record, was employed, and had compensated the complainants. However, he emphasised Moxey’s lack of remorse. 

He said Moxey had “blatantly disregarded” the authority of the police, noting that his actions placed police officers in imminent danger, adding: “The actions of the convict placed police officers in imminent danger.”

The judge found that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating ones and determined that a custodial sentence was necessary to reflect society’s disapproval and deter similar offences. As a result, Moxey was sentenced to two years in prison.