Man gets suspended sentence for grievous bodily harm

High Court Judge Victoria Charles-Clarke has given 28-year-old Miguel Samuel, formerly of Seneku in the Kalinago Territory, a three- year suspended sentence after he pleaded guilty to the offence of grievous bodily harm with intent.

She also ordered that he do counseling for “anger management.”

Wayne Norde, counsel for Samuel who appeared for him (amicus) free, in mitigation told the court that Samuel was labeled as “an outsider” and a “neg” by some people in the Territory and did not mean to harm him but was “provoked.”

Samuel, he said, “was remorseful for his actions and pleaded guilty and not wasted the courts time.”

Furthermore, he told the court that Samuel had moved out from the Territory and was living in Kingshill and seeking gainful employment.

Norde asked the court not to impose a custodial sentence on Samuel.

“Every dog deserves a second bite, he has a bright future in a different community, we ask that you temper justice with mercy and give him a second chance in life and not to impose a custodial sentence on him,” he said.

Justice Charles-Clarke said that while such an offence deserves a custodial sentence, the fact that he (Samuel) was provoked, was remorseful, had moved out of the community and the complainant had fully recovered, she will not send him to jail.

The maximum sentence is 10 years and she used six years as her starting point, plus the 1/3 reduction bringing it down to four years. She further removed one year for the delay at trial and imposed a 3 year jail sentence suspended.

“If you do anything you within three years you will be brought back here and will be sent to jail for three years,” she told him.

The facts of the case

On Saturday November 9, 2013 about 11:00 am, Miguel Samuel left his home to fetch water in the Sineku public stand pipe located about 200 yards away. On reaching, he filled one of the two pails he had with water and then went to a concrete wall about 20 feet away crushing something in his pail.

Bethan Valmond who was in ‘Babree’s Shop’ on the opposite side of the road having a few drinks with friends, left and went to Samuel saying, “you not bathing in the pipe today.”

An argument ensued between them and Valmond closed the tap and kicked the other pail in the drain. He was asked to “behave” but refused insisting that Miguel not take water in the pipe to wash or bathe.

On seeing what was happening Cornelius Defoe, one of Valmond’s friends who was in the shop, came and tried to convince him to leave Samuel alone but that proved futile.

Samuel became angry and left the area and in the process made a report to the Salybia Police Station and was given specific instructions by the police.
He returned to the area about 15 minutes later, dressed and armed with a cutlass. He went to the pipe to fill his pail and was again approached by Valmond who told him that he would not allow him to bathe in the pipe.

Valmond was warned repeatedly by Samuel and after several warnings he struck him several times on his left foot severely injuring him.

Valmond in the process used some threatening language to Samuel who lifted the cutlass and said “say it again…see I not splitting your head.”

He was assisted by persons in the area, taken to the Castle Bruce health Center where he was treated and referred to the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) where he underwent immediate surgery and remained a patient at the Alford Ward for six weeks.

Copyright 2012 Dominica News Online, DURAVISION INC. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.

We will delete comments that:

  • contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
  • a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
  • contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
  • promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
  • refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
  • contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
  • are off-topic and/or excessively long

See our full comment/user policy/agreement.

9 Comments

  1. Yes I
    March 7, 2017

    people must learn to LEAVE other people alone. Stop the bullying. As far as I am concerned Valmond look for his trouble. so he got it. He ate the pepper like the monkey. :lol: That could have been avoided. D pipe is not yours!!!!!!

  2. D believer
    March 7, 2017

    To much violence youngsters learn to talk things out !…

  3. hmmmm
    March 7, 2017

    but the guy was provoked…..

  4. March 7, 2017

    Blame it on the consumption of the devil’s brew alcohol .

  5. When people provoking us and we go to make a report to the police, the police not doing their job in crime prevention. When we react towards the provocation and hurt somebody the police is quick to come and arrest us. The police commission should train the policemen in crime prevention so there will be less casualties and homicide. What if the neg had open the kwayib head?

  6. March 7, 2017

    What happen to giving people community service? Man Dominica eould he so clean .

  7. Rasta
    March 7, 2017

    Do your crime. Claim to be remorseful and penitent and move out of the village. Some time ago, a young man threatened to kill me. he went on to say that he would have been a first time offender so his punishment would have been one that does not fit the severity of his crime. What a society we are developing or have developed.

  8. The Darkness
    March 7, 2017

    Another case where the law and Justice system just do not work.

    You mean to tell me
    – the man was provoked, picked on by this other guy
    – The other guy was warned several times.
    – The man went to police to file a report. (They did NOTHING)
    – The man found that the police was a waste of time (like we all do) and went to protect himself
    – Goes back again for more water from a PUBLIC standpipe.
    – Is provoked again by the SAME guy.
    – He is warning the guy again and the guy will not listen.

    Ladies and gentlemen… OLD TESTAMENT on you fada.

    I saw nothing wrong with what transpired. Samuel stood up for himself, in a violent way.

    Why would i agree? Samuel tried everything he was most likely taught by society and possibly parents… did not work.

    Frustrate your fellow man still you evil basturds out there. Reap what you sow!!

  9. Music Producer
    March 7, 2017

    8-O How is the guy wrong for defending himself from that bully?

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

:) :-D :wink: :( 8-O :lol: :-| :cry: 8) :-? :-P :-x :?: :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: more »

 characters available