Disbarred attorney Ralph Jan Ward is expected to turn himself in today to begin serving an 18-month prison sentence.

The 64-year-old was fitted with an electronic monitoring device on Friday after Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson refused to extend his October 2 surrender date.

Last year, Ward pleaded guilty to eight counts of stealing by reason of employment and fraudulent breach of trust concerning the collective theft of $1.7 million from eight clients between 2006 and 2007.

As part of a plea agreement, Ward's 18-month sentence would be extended by four years if the stolen money isn't repaid.

In order to prevent this, Ward was allowed to remain on bail to facilitate $1.8 million in repayments to his victims. The sum included 2.5 percent interest.

But once the nine-month deadline came, Ward had failed to pay any money back.

With the agreement of the prosecutor, Eucal Bonaby, Ward was given additional time to secure funding.

On September 6, Ward appeared along with attorney Dion Smith who claimed that he represented the directors of a company that would assist Ward in the repayment of the stolen money.

The matter was adjourned to September 27. On that date, Smith did not appear. However, Damian Gomez KC, who represented Ward when the plea agreement was signed, withdrew as counsel.

Ward also confirmed that Smith no longer represented him.

He asked the judge for more time to get another lawyer and an extension of his surrender date.

On September 29, Grant-Thompson denied the extension, saying it seemed that Ward didn't have the ability to come up with the owed money.

She said that it was unlikely that he would get the money over the weekend and she was going to commit him to prison on Friday.

A distressed looking Ward begged the court for time to "tie up loose ends".

Ward said he wanted to spend time with his 87-year-old mother and nine-year-old daughter before he went to prison.

Ward said he had complied with all of his bail conditions and that the judge knew "within her heart of hearts", that he had nowhere to go.

Bonaby agreed to Ward spending the weekend free, provided he was tagged with an ankle bracelet.

Grant-Thompson told Ward that he would be taken into custody until he was tagged.

Ward convinced the judge to let him walk alongside the police officer to the Central Police Station without being handcuffed.

He also asked the court to recommend that he serve his time on minimum security.

Ward had previously pleaded guilty to the theft charges in 2011 and promised to repay the stolen money.

He later withdrew his pleas and launched a series of legal challenges aimed at stopping him from being tried.

After his motions were dismissed by the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, the Privy Council refused to grant Ward leave to appeal in December 2021.

The post Disbarred attorney Jan Ward set to start prison sentence today  appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.

The post Disbarred attorney Jan Ward set to start prison sentence today  appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.

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