Trini swindler convicted for unpaid hotel debt

Mar 04, 2017 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

– ordered deported

Anthony Nestor, a 28-year-old Trinidadian national, was yesterday found guilty of incurring a debt of $260,824 at the Brandsville Hotel, Campbellville, by pretending he had a valid credit card to pay his expenses.
The debt was incurred between April 1 and 15, 2016.
City Magistrate Judy Latchman ordered Anthony Nestor to pay the sum of money he owes to the hotel. The Magistrate also ordered him to pay a fine of $100,000.
Failure to repay the hotel or pay the fine will see him serving a 36-month jail sentence.
Magistrate Latchman also ordered that Nestor be deported to his homeland after payment of the monies or upon completion of serving the jail term.
Police Prosecutor Shawn Gonsalves called a number of police and civilian witnesses.
These included the manager for the Brandsville Hotel.
Nestor had claimed that he was a born Guyanese. However, on numerous occasions he failed to present his Guyanese birth certificate in court. This led to the court checking records, which revealed that Nestor was born at the San Fernando Hospital, Trinidad.
Magistrate Latchman had refused to grant Nestor bail on the ground that he was a flight risk.
Late last year, Nestor was slapped with several other charges of a similar nature, where it was alleged that he stayed at hotels, incurred debts and failed to pay.
Initially, Nestor had retained attorney James Bond to represent him. But as the trial progressed, the lawyer never showed up in court and Nestor was forced to cross examine the prosecution’s witnesses himself.
Before passing sentence on Nestor, Magistrate Judy Latchman informed the court that she considered all mitigating factors, According to the Magistrate, she also considered the time Nestor spent on remand pending trial.