ST ANDREW, Jamaica – Thirty-nine-year-old Barrington Merchant, an employee of the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), is booked to appear in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate’s Court on Friday to answer to a charge of indecent assault.
Merchant was arrested last Thursday and charged after an 18-year-old colleague reported that he had assaulted her at the Constant Spring Road passport office.
Reports reaching OBSERVER ONLINE are that on December 15, 2013, Merchant allegedly held the 18-year-old woman’s hands above her head while in an elevator at the passport office and kissed her against her will.
Some two weeks later the woman reported the matter to a supervisor and a meeting was held during which it was said that action would be taken against Merchant.
However, reports are that nothing transpired following the meeting so the woman sought advice from the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA) and she was told to report the matter.
Merchant was subsequently arrested.
