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The just-concluded court martial of former Barbados Regiment member Shane Coulthrust will now be reviewed by the Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force (BDF), Colonel Glyne Grannum.
Coulthrust, a former Barbados Coast Guard member, was convicted of two charges late Friday night coming out of his actions while on duty as a coxswain on the
HMBS Endurance on April 19, 2019.
He had originally faced 12 charges, which were eventually reduced to nine.
The 33-year-old was found guilty of disobedience to the standing orders and particular orders by using his cell phone on the vessel
Endurance, and deviating while patrolling Barbados’ territorial waters on April 19, 2019 on the
BDF Chief of Staff reviewing outcome of court martial
Article by May 9, 2021
Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) Colonel Glyne Grannum is reviewing the outcome of the court martial of Private Shane Coulthrust, the BDF said Sunday.
Last Friday, the matter ended with 33-year-old Coulthrust being handed a sentence of “discharge with ignominy from the Barbados Defence Force.”
He went on trial last month on nine charges of misconduct while on duty on a coast guard vessel on April 19, 2019.
Private Coulthrust was found guilty of going off course without authorization and using his personal cell phone while on duty, in contravention of the Coast Guard’s Standing Orders.
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Private Shane Coulthrust was found guilty on two of the nine charges for which he was court-martialed but late Friday night his fate remained unknown as the court could not settle on his punishment.
The 33-year-old, at one time a sailor with the Barbados Coast Guard (BCG), but now with the Barbados Regiment, went on trial April 19 on several allegations linked to an April 19, 2019 incident while he was the coxswain aboard the vessel Endurance, patrolling Barbados’ territorial waters.
On Friday after deliberating for more than three hours, at 8:05 p.m. the panel of President Lieutenant Commander Fernella Cordle, Lieutenant Commander Robert Morris and Captain Randolph Clarke convicted Coulthrust for disobeying a standing order by using his personal cellphone on the Endurance and deviating from the patrol area without lawful authority on April 19, 2019.
Coulthrust, found guilty of two charges, pleads for leniency
Article by May 8, 2021
Coast Guard Private Shane Coulthrust pleaded for leniency late Friday night after a military tribunal found him guilty of two of the nine charges he faced during his court-martial.
But the sentence to be imposed was not immediately known as the three-member panel of Lieutenant Commander Fernella Cordle, Lieutenant Commander Robert Morris and Captain Randolph Clarke were locked in deliberations on Private Coulthrust’s fate at the Barbados Defence Force’s St Ann’s Fort headquarters after 11 p.m.
Earlier, after deliberating for over three hours, the panel returned at 8:03 p.m. and found the 33-year-old Coulthrust guilty of going off course without authorization and using his personal cell phone while on duty on April 19, 2019, in contravention of the Coast Guard’s Standing Orders.
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The evidence put forward by three sailors in the case against Private Shane Coulthrust should not be trusted.
That was the contention of Queen’s Counsel Andrew Pilgrim yesterday in his 37-minute closing argument in the court martial being held at the Barbados Defence Force’s (BDF) Hodgson Hall, St Ann’s Fort headquarters.
“This evidence, I submit, may be highly unreliable. Don’t rely on all your training in the army. That is not the key in this. The key is what are the charges, what is the evidence and was it all proved. The answer is a plain and simple no. I can’t be a polythene dealer one day and a witness the next, and you don’t at least look at me with a certain level of scrutiny . . . . There is a reason why witnesses in that position have to be scrutinised,” he told the panel hearing the matter.