Two men charged with breaching the Hire Purchase Act after being accused of wrongfully seizing a motor vehicle which the police say they had no claim to appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court on Monday.

The accused men are Clinton Williams, 35, a bailiff of a Kew Lane, Kingston 13 address, and Lloyd Campbell, a 42-year-old businessman of a Kingsway Avenue, Kingston 10 address. Williams is also charged with assaulting a female.

The allegations are that Williams, posing as a bailiff, seized the complainant's 2003 Toyota Ipsum motor car on May 29 in New Kingston. The complainant had borrowed a loan from Campbell's lending agency First Union Financial Limited and had fallen into arrears. The car was reportedly seized by the company in an effort to recover the loss.

cover the arrears

Investigations by police, however, revealed that the car was not owned by the complainant and therefore the organisation could not seize it and use it to cover the arrears. The car was reportedly purchased with a loan obtained from another financial institution and is still the property of that institution.

Further checks also revealed that Williams' bailiff licence had expired in March and was still not valid at the time when he seized the vehicle. It is alleged that Williams assaulted the complainant during the process of seizing the car.

When the matter was mentioned on Monday, Williams' fingerprints were requested, while Campbell was not present but was represented by an attorney.

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