Washington Bramble to Enter Plea in January on Charges Unrelated to CHOGM Town Hall

Washington Bramble is due back in court in January to enter a plea on several charges, with the court hearing that none is connected to the CHOGM town hall meeting where he was arrested.

Bramble, a well-known transgender woman from Hatton, appeared before Senior Magistrate Veronica Thomas on Monday, represented by attorney Justin Simon.

At the start of the proceedings, the magistrate asked Simon how his client should be addressed. He deferred to the court, and when Thomas asked Bramble directly, she said her preferred pronouns were “she” and “her.”

The charges include disorderly conduct by making noise, annoyance, using insulting language and escaping lawful custody. The court heard that all complainants are police officers.

The escape charge alleges that Bramble escaped the lawful custody of a police constable at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre on October 15. A separate disorderly conduct charge alleges that she made noise in a public place at the medical centre on October 22.

The annoyance and insulting language charges relate to an alleged September 11 incident in Hatton. The annoyance charge alleges that she annoyed a police officer.

Prosecutors have until November 27 to provide disclosure. The magistrate confirmed the station bail on which Bramble had been released from the St. John’s Police Station on Friday, October 23. She had been held since Wednesday.

The matter was adjourned to January 25 for plea.

Bramble was arrested at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting town hall at the John E. St Luce Finance and Conference Centre.

During the question-and-answer session, she said crime was out of control and asked what had been done to protect visiting guests when the country could not protect its own people.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chet Greene said he preferred that no one answer the question and told Bramble she would not be allowed to disrupt the meeting.

Later, while another person was asking a question, Bramble spoke about police brutality, threats from police and discrimination. Two officers then removed her from the room.

Police subsequently said her arrest was unrelated to her presence at the town hall. In a press release, they said it was connected to an ongoing investigation into an earlier matter at Gray’s Farm and that several attempts to locate her for questioning had been unsuccessful before the meeting.