There were several interesting cases that appeared before the St Ann Parish Court last week Thursday, March 2.
The cases range from a man stabbing a Chinese man on his buttocks, a man squeezing a woman’s throat over money and a man who said that he was only buying DVDs, but he was charged for selling the items..
The cases came before senior parish judge Andrea Thomas.
CHARGED FOR STEALING
A man, who was charged for simple larceny, told the court that he was not guilty of the charge.
The crown prosecutor told Judge Thomas that Akeem Fraser was alleged to have stolen a bag, a laptop, one small phone, one hard drive and one stainless steel necklace.
However, the prosecutor explained that based on what she read on the file, Fraser could only be charged for the bag and the laptop, with which he was allegedly seen.
A trial date of September 6 was set in the matter.
STABBING CHINESE MAN
Isaiah Barnett, who is alleged to have stabbed a Chinese man on his buttocks, told the judge that the incident was an accident.
The investigating officer told Judge Thomas that a CCTV camera located at Chinese haberdashery showed footage of Barnett using a knife to stab the Chinese man. The officer alleged that Barnett later walked off laughing.
However, Barnett denied the allegations and said that he was using the knife to cut boxes on the day in question and the Chinese man, who was in front of him was accidently stabbed on his buttocks. He denied that he walked away laughing. He said that he walked off to go around the back of the store to get alcohol and tissue to assist the Chinese man.
Barnett continued to offer the defense that the incident was accidental.
In the meantime, the investigating officer told Judge Thomas that he was facing a challenge getting a statement from the Chinese man on what happened in the incident. She told him to contact the Chinese Embassy, who had initially made contact regarding the incident.
The case is set to be mentioned on May 2.
SQUEEZING WOMAN’S THROAT
A man charged for squeezing the throat of a woman was slapped with a fine of $20,000.
The man, Warren Edwards had pleaded “guilty with explanation” to assault occasioning bodily harm.
It is alleged that on February 4, he squeezed the throat of a female supervisor of a hardware.
Edwards explained that the woman was very disrespectful to him on the day in question and that she had stabbed at him with a pen.
However, the woman explained that on the day in question, it was a very busy day at the hardware. She had to be dealing with customers and a delivery truck was also there at the hardware.
She said that she had received a call that Edwards was to receive $10,000, but she was busy and told him that he would soon receive the money. However, Edwards became impatient and the complainant said she made a comment to the effect that everyone seemed to have been on their period today.
She said that she was around the cash machine, when she heard persons making loud noises and when she turned around Edwards had a rod in his hand. She said that he squeezed her neck and also threw her down. She indicated that it was persons, who came to her rescue to save her from Edwards’ attack.
Judge Thomas told the woman that she can sue him for her injuries and she later fined Edwards for assaulting the woman.
EXPOSING GOODS FOR SALE
Several persons pleaded guilty for exposing goods for sale without a license to sell the goods in a prescribed area.
Erika McKenzie, William Allen and Nicholas Campbell all pleaded guilty and were fined $2,000 or 21 days in prison.
For Lenora Samuels, when pleaded, she explained that her husband does a little farming and she was selling the goods on the day in question in Runaway Bay in the parish.
However, Judge Thomas told her that she was required to have a license to sell in that prescribed area. She told her that she should be selling in the market.
Samuels later pleaded guilty and was fined $2,000 or 21 days in prison.
