By: St. Clair Sazam Hull
Nevispages.com
(CHARLESTOWN NEVIS)-The District ‘C’ Magistrate Court in Charlestown, District C Nevis resumed its usual sitting on Tuesday, July 5, 2016 before Her Honor, Magistrate Yasmine Clarke.
The matter before the Court was that of Glenville Fahie, a resident of Cherry Gardens who was charged with two counts of beating. He pleaded not guilty to both charges.
According to Police Prosecutor, Eurita Percival, on Sunday, May 1, 2016 the defendant was at Johns Bar at Pinney’ s Beach when he physically abused and assaulted Murphy Liburd. Percival indicated, that the victim filed a report at the Charlestown Police Station and as a result, the defendant was brought before the Court.
The Prosecution first witness was Murphy Liburd. He told the Court, that on the evening in question, he went to Pinney’s Beach with some friends to hang out. Liburd pointed out that whilst dancing, he got pushed by one of his friends and knocked over the defendant’s laptop and his mixer board. He stated that he immediately apologized to Glenville for what he did and when he turned his back, the accused started beating him. Liburd said he received blows in his head and on his shoulders from the defendant. He told the Court that during the onslaught, one of his friends came over and told the accused, “Boy you ain see wa you doing”? Liburd indicated that his friend placed him in a vehicle and he was transported to the hospital.
He indicated, that the doctor at the hospital gave him an injection and two weeks off from work. He noted that after his departure from the hospita,l he headed directly to the Charlestown Police Station and made a report about the incident which had occurred. Murphy said that the instruments were not intentionally knocked over, and he was willing to compensate the defendant for whatever damages were caused.
The second witness to give evidence for the Prosecution was Jamal Springette. The witness noted that about 8:30 p.m. on the said evening, he and some friends were dancing and having drinks at John’s Bar. He indicated that he pushed Murphy and he accidentally hit the laptop and the mixer and they both fell on the ground. Springette said he took them from the ground and gave them to the accused, he said the laptop was on but the mixer was not playing. Springette told the Court, that the accused went over to Murphy and told him he has to buy them back. He indicated, that at that point the accused started beating Liburd with a mic stand and when he fell to the ground, Fahie started kicking him.
Springette pointed out that while he was assisting with getting Liburd into the vehicle, the accused landed a punch to his head and knocked him to the ground. He said that the punch caused him to be unconscious. He noted, that someone took him off the ground and drove him to the hospital. The witness pointed out, that when they got to the hospital they were treated and given medical forms by the doctor, thereafter, they traveled to the Charlestown Police Station and the officer took statements from them. He too indicated that he had received two weeks off from work by the doctor.
Kenisha Isaac of Ramsbury also gave evidence on behalf of the Prosecution. She told the Court, that she was at John’s Bar with some friends and Glenville Fahie was playing music. She noted that they were dancing and suddenly Jamal accidentally pushed Murphy against Glenville’s sound system and it fell to the ground. Isaac pointed out that Glenville took an iron stand and began beating Murphy Liburd. She said she came over and assisted with getting Murphy off the ground and asked somebody to take him to the hospital.
She said while she was at the hospital, she saw Jamal made an entrance and he said Glenville had hit him also. She told the Court that both men departed the hospital and went to the police station and gave Officer Isaac a statement.
The accused asked the witness, if at any time did Murphy and Jamal apologized for what they did. Isaac said that they did apologize. Fahie asked Isaac, “then why didn’t you say it when you were giving your evidence”? Fahie also asked the witness what time did the incident happened. Isaac said she did not remember the exact time it occurred.
The accused, Glenville Fahie also gave evidence under oath. He stated that he was down at Pinney’s Beach playing some music as that was a part of his regular routine on Sundays. Fahie noted, that about 10:30 p.m. when it was soon time for closing Jamal Springette, Murphy Liburd and some other friends came into close proximity of where he was playing. He said they were fooling around and Murphy pretended to be whining on Jamal. The defendant pointed out, that Jamal pushed Murphy and he was unable to keep his balance, he stumbled over and pushed down the sound system. Fahie said that the music went off and the mixer and the laptop were both damaged.
He told the Court, that he waited to see if anyone would have come over, and apologize for what had happened but nobody did. Fahie indicated, that after he took the equipment off the ground and examined them to see what the damage was. He stated that the mixer nabs were broken off. He said he took it over to Murphy to try and rectify the problem. The accused stated, that he heard his friends saying that he was not responsible because he wasn’t the one who started the confrontation in the first place. Fahie pointed out that Murphy then turned to him and said he was not going to replace it, because Jamal was the one who pushed him.
The defendant said that at that point the fight broke out and while they were both in the scuffle, Murphy’s other friends got involved. He indicated that the manner in which some of them were parting the fight, it was plain to see they were clearly picking a side so he stood his ground and defended himself. He said he threw a couple punches that caught Jamal flush in his head and Brandon Davis intervened and tried to defend Jamal. He said that he and Brandon started fighting and some other people at the beach got involved and broke them up and asked him to leave the beach. Fahie said he did what they had asked of him and he got into his car and drove off.
During cross-examination, Percival asked Fahie if he and the victims are friends. Fahie said they used to be friends. The Prosecutor asked the accused if he knew it was an accident and Fahie noted that he knew it was an accident but he was looking for an explanation for what had happened and nobody explained what had transpired. Percival told the defendant that he beat up on both men because they had caused an accident. Fahie indicated that he did not beat up anybody the fight started because of Murphy told him he was not replacing his instruments.
Her Honor found the accused guilty as charged. She told the defendant, that she found him to be very angry that evening and while she understood his anger, what he did was unacceptable. Her Honor stated, “I can understand your anger but I can’t accept the beating up because it is just instruments. What you should have done is to say, fellows you all mash up my instruments and you all will have to pay me for them”. Her Honor also told Fahie that she believed that he gave both of them some good licks.
The accused was convicted on both charges and was asked to pay one thousand dollars in six months on both counts. Failure to pay both fines the defendant will serve twelve months imprisonment.