The lawyer for a policeman who pleaded guilty to three counts of committing serious indecency against two schoolgirls back in 2011, has asked the court to release his client pending sentencing, based on the fact that Ricardo Devere Millington has a heart condition.
Today, Millington, 43, of Breezy Hill, Halton Terrace, St Philip, was back before Justice Margaret Reifer in the No. 5 Supreme Court where he pleaded just days ago.
On the date of the guilty plea, attorney-at-law Alvan Babb felt that even though it “was not usual” for the court, Millington presented special circumstances not only because of his illness, but also because he had been on bail when he pleaded guilty.
Babb argued, therefore, that there was every likelihood that his client would show up for court for his sentencing. However, Justice Reifer asked that she be furnished with an updated medical report from Millington’s physician and that someone from the Medical Unit at HMP Dodds be brought to describe the level of care there.
Today, a medical report was presented to the court and the Supervisor of the Medical Unit at the prison, Susan Goodridge, testified.
Goodridge told the court that on entry, Millington reported having Brugada syndrome (a heart condition), along with hypertension and sinusitis. Goodridge also said she was aware that he was taking medication for these conditions.
She explained that there were three doctors contracted by the prison and each attended to inmates one day per week. Though they were generally available, she added there were occasions when they had emergencies and could not be present.
In such cases, inmates are taken to the St Philip Polyclinic, Fast Track at the Sir Winston Scott Polyclinic or the Accident & Emergency Department of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the witness said.
Asked by Babb whether she had any medical training, Goodridge said she was a qualified nurse. In response to other questions, the witness said there was no cardiologist attached to HMP Dodds, nor was there one on staff.
Goodridge said once she was on duty and anything happened medically with a prisoner, she would know
about it.
Asked whether she had ever been on duty and a prisoner needed medical attention but a doctor was absent, Goodridge said it had happened. However, she could not say how long it took to get those prisoners to an outside facility.
Goodridge’s superior and cardiologist Dr Raymond Massay are expected to be at court on December 7 when the matter comes up again.
According to the facts which Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Donna Babb-Agard, QC, told the court after Millington pleaded guilty, one of the victims, a 15-year-old girl, was giving trouble and her mother – who met Millington on-line – felt that he would have been a good person to help keep the girl in check.
The teen was allowed to stay at Millington’s home and the offences were committed in a bedroom there. During the mentioned dates, one of the girl’s friends was also indecently assaulted.