Court hears charges against Bramble unrelated to CHOGM town hall arrest

Washington Bramble is due back in court on January 25 to enter pleas on several charges, after the court heard that none relates to the CHOGM town hall meeting where she was arrested.

Bramble, a transgender woman from Hatton, appeared before Senior Magistrate Veronica Thomas on Monday, represented by attorney Justin Simon.

She faces charges of disorderly conduct by making noise, annoyance, using insulting language and escaping lawful custody. All complainants are police officers, the court heard.

The escape charge alleges that Bramble escaped a police constable’s lawful custody at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre on October 15. A separate disorderly conduct charge alleges that she made noise in a public place at the medical centre on October 22.

The annoyance and insulting language charges stem from an alleged September 11 incident in Hatton. Bramble is accused of annoying a police officer during that incident.

Prosecutors have until November 27 to provide disclosure. Thomas confirmed Bramble’s station bail, which was granted at the St. John’s Police Station on Friday, October 23, after she had been held since Wednesday.

At the start of Monday’s proceedings, Thomas asked Simon how his client should be addressed. He deferred to the court. When asked directly, Bramble said her preferred pronouns were “she” and “her.”

Bramble was arrested at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting town hall at the John E. St. Luce Finance and Conference Centre.

During the question-and-answer session, she said crime was out of control and questioned what was being done to protect visiting guests when the country could not protect its own people.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chet Greene said he preferred that no one answer the question and told Bramble she would not be allowed to disrupt the meeting.

Later, while another participant was asking a question, Bramble spoke about alleged police brutality, threats from police and discrimination. Two officers then removed her from the room.

Police subsequently said the arrest was unrelated to her presence at the town hall. They said it concerned an ongoing investigation into an earlier matter at Gray’s Farm and that several attempts to locate her for questioning before the meeting had been unsuccessful.

This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: Washington Bramble to Enter Plea in January on Charges Unrelated to CHOGM Town Hall.