By Anthony Henry

Attorneys representing Spanish Town Mayor Norman Scott have pushed back against the charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and malicious destruction of property laid against him, arguing that the police account of the incident is incomplete.

Scott, who was the People’s National Party’s (PNP) candidate for South East St Elizabeth in the September 3 general election, is accused of striking an election agent during a dispute at a polling station. He is scheduled to appear in the Santa Cruz Parish Court on October 13.

However, his legal team, led by attorney Charles A Ganga-Singh said Scott was in fact attacked by a mob of Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters while at the polling station and had to be rescued by his security detail and members of the Jamaica Defence Force.

“It is curious, and frankly troubling, that the police reports circulated publicly make no mention of this critical fact, despite Mayor Scott having formally reported the assault against him,” Ganga-Singh said in a statement. “Instead, what has been presented suggests only one side of the incident, omitting that my client was the victim of an unprovoked attack.”

The attorney added that the defence is confident the full facts, including eyewitness testimony and Scott’s own report to the authorities, will clear the mayor of wrongdoing once the matter is heard in court.

Scott has denied the allegations, insisting that his security team had to act to protect him from the mob before he was escorted from the polling station.