A driver has been bonded and his conductor ordered to pay compensation after they were found guilty of offences committed during a cutlass-wielding attack on another driver in Georgetown last December, videos of which were widely circulated on social media.
Cousins Kingsley Roberts aka Portmore, of Byera, and Maxford “Parpa” Roberts, of North Union, were jointly charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and wounding on Zimron Da Souza, of New Chapmans, Georgetown.
The offences were committed on Dec. 8, 2023, at Georgetown Public Road and resulted in Da Souza receiving a 9cm-deep wound which exposed blood vessels.
They were tried before Magistrate Kaywana Jacobs at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on April 15.
The prosecutor, Corporal of Police Delando Charles alleged that the incident was triggered by Da Sousa’s relationship with a woman with whom Kingsley has a child.
Kingsley told the court that he has a child “with a lady Zimron dealing with”.
“And you went and chook Da Souza because he talked on you with your baby mother?” Charles asked.
“No, your honour,” Kingsley said.
Da Souza testified that he parked his van at the bus stand in Georgetown for omnibuses travelling to Sandy Bay. A van later parked behind him.
He said Kingsley, the driver of that van, “approached me and poked me in the eye and told me not to call his f***ing name.
“I held on to him and we started to wrestle and we both fell to the ground.”
Da Souza told the court that Kingsley’s conductor, Parpa, approached him with a stone and a bottle in his hands.
“Me pushed Kingsley and me got up and ran towards me van to get me cutlass,” the virtual complainant testified.
Da Souza said Parpa retrieved the cutlass before him and fired a chop, which caught him in the neck.
He said the cutlass fell from Parpa and he was able to wrest it from Parpa.
Da Souza said he tried to pursue Parpa but he was losing too much blood so he drove instead to the Georgetown Police Station — located less than five minutes away — and made a report.
The virtual complainant said he was assessed at the Modern Medical and Diagnostic Centre in Georgetown, where he received several stitches and was kept overnight because his blood pressure was elevated.
During re-examination, Da Souza said the incident (from when he was poked in the eyes to when he arrived at the police station) lasted about 10 minutes.
He told the court that he kept the cutlass in the van “as a safeguard weapon” as he sometimes works late and has money on him.
Da Souza’s conductor, Macario Roberts, corroborated Da Souza’s story.
Under re-examination, he told the court that he was about 15 feet away from the incident but did not attempt to assist as “me nah know what dem get”.
The next witness, Corporal 480 Caesar, said he was on duty at the Georgetown Police Station when the virtual complainant arrived with a rag on the left side of his neck.
The corporal said he saw what appeared to be blood coming from Da Souza’s neck and issued him with two medical injury forms to take to the doctor.
Caesar testified that that night the virtual complainant handed over to him a three-seam four-rivet cutlass used during the incident and which he kept as an exhibit.
During cross examination by Maxford, the officer told the court that the defendants also visited the station on the day of the incident and were also issued medical injury forms.
He said he escorted the men to the hospital because he knew that Da Souza was also there.
Maxford asked the corporal why they (the defendants) never heard anything from him since returning the medical injury report forms
However, the officer didn’t answer the question.
Kingsley’s evidence
Kingsley told the court that after he parked his van behind Da Souza’a at the bus stop, he had to walk between the two vans to cross the road.
He said Da Souza was at the side of his (Da Souza’s) van and he told Da Souza, “Man, when you ah talk you mustn’t call me name.”
Kingsley said Da Souza pushed him and he pushed him back and Da Souza went to his van for the cutlass.
He said he and Da Souza were still wrestling and Maxford came and told DaSouza, “You ah call up the man name and you want fight?”
Kingsley told the court that Da Souza swung the cutlass at Maxford, hitting him on the hand and the cutlass fell to the ground.
He said Maxford picked up the cutlass and hit DaSouza.
Kingsley said that Da Souza ended up with the cutlass and chased Maxford with it but Da Souza gave up the chase, tied up his neck and went to the police station.
Kingsley told the court they later went to the station and were issued with medical injury forms.
He said he told the officer to accompany them (defendants) to the hospital and they (defendants) “never heard anything again after the medical form. That was it!”
Maxford’s evidence
In his evidence, Maxford told the court that Kingsley had to pass between the two vans to cross the road.
He said he didn’t see who hit whom first but Da Souza pulled a cutlass from inside his van and tried to chop Kingsley.
The defendant said he ran towards Da Souza, who fired the cutlass, which chopped him on the hand.
“I didn’t go to chop him, I go to plan him with the cutlass and he got cut,” Maxford testified.
He said he received three stitches to the injury.
Under cross examination, Maxford admitted to chopping Da Souza saying, “I hit him on the hand but the cutlass slide and hit him on the neck”
However, the prosecutor put it to Maxford that he had aimed for Da Souza’s neck.
“… you intended to kill him,” Charles told Maxford, who responded, “No.”
Defendant says he’ll change his life
At the sentencing on Monday, when asked why he should not be sent to prison, Kingsley told the magistrate that he was a father of four children, aged 16, 16, 9 and 2, who are still in school.
He told the court that he does not make trouble.
Meanwhile, Maxford said he was sorry for his actions and promised to change his life. He said that he has a 6-month-old child.
He said he earns EC$480 weekly and pays a monthly rent of EC$450. Maxford asked to pay a fine, telling the court that his girlfriend is sailing.
In her sentence on Kingsley, the magistrate said that one summary conviction, ABH carries a maximum of five years in prison.
At the end of her calculation, Jacobs arrived at a sentence of three months imprisonment, saying that Da Souza’s eye injury was “not long-lasting.”
However, she deviated from the guidelines and bonded the defendant for one year in the sum of EC$600 or three months imprisonment.
Meanwhile, she told Maxford that wounding carries a maximum of 14 years imprisonment.
In arriving at her sentence, the magistrate noted that a weapon was used and the nature of the injury inflicted.
She deducted six months from the sentence because the defendant had no previous conviction.
Jacobs, therefore, sentenced the defendant to a year imprisonment suspended for 12 months.
Maxford was also ordered to pay Da Souza EC$3,000 compensation in six months or spend six months in prison.