A comedy of errors unfolded at Magistrates' Court last week over a case of mistaken identity and a wrongly-read charge.

With two defendants by the surname Trott on the court list, defendant Mark Trott of Chapel of Ease Lane, St. George's stepped up by mistake after mishearing the name that was called out.

When Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner put it to him that he was charged with driving on Angle Street on November 7 while disqualified, a surprised Mr Trott, 40, said: "That's not what I'm here for. I'm here for possession of an illegal substance."

Crown counsel Cindy Clarke put an end to this piece of confusion by explaining that it was another man by the name of Edmund Trott who was supposed to be standing before Mr Warner on the driving charge.

But that was not the end of the muddle. Deciding to go ahead and deal with the Mark Trott drugs case anyway, since he was standing before him, Mr. Warner told him that he faced a charge of possession of cocaine.

However, the clearly surprised and baffled defendant indicated that this was not the correct charge either.

Finally, Mr. Warner put the correct charge to Mark Trott: that he was in possession of 3.69 grams of cannabis in Pembroke on July 19.

To this, the chuckling defendant pleaded guilty, commenting: "It's a shame really. I'm sorry that I got caught."

"You think the whole thing is a joke?" said Mr. Warner, fining him $600.

In the meantime, a warrant was issued in the case of Edmund Trott, who had not turned up at the court.