Thirty-year-old Ishan Shillingford of Newtown has 18 months to pay the court $15,000 after he was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Mark Anthony Gibson also of Newtown.
Shillingford who appeared in the Roseau High Court on Wednesday before Justice Bernie Stephenson tried to convince the jury that he was acting out of self defence on the night of August 7, 2008.
According to Gibson, he and some friends were playing cards when Shillingford approached him and asked him for a game. He agreed to play with him however after six games the two men began arguing over money which Gibson took from the card table.
Shillingford told the court that he got angry and demanded that Gibson give him the $2 which he earned by winning two games. The complainant refused which resulted in Shillingford pushing Gibson causing him to fall on his buttocks. Gibson then gave Shillingford the money.
Shillingford then went into his grandmother’s bar when he noticed Gibson coming to attack him from behind. He told the jury that at that point he began to feel afraid and grabbed a “glass bottle” near him which he threw after Gibson.
The bottle struck Gibson in his left eye which resulted in him losing sight in it. The left side of his face was also damaged.
Shillingford also stated that Gibson began shouting “I going to do you back” and started coming toward him in a manner which made him feel like he was going to be attacked.
He then said that he picked up a stone and flung it at Gibson.
In a plea of mitigation Shillingford’s attorney, David Bruney, told the court that his client was the father of a ten year old son and a hard worker. He also pointed out that Shillingford’s grandmother depended on him for many things. He therefore, begged the court to not impose a custodial sentence on his client.
But Justice Stephenson said she wanted to send a strong message from the situation. “It is my obligation to send a strong message to the youth that such behaviour will not be tolerated,” she said.
She advised Gibson to seek further legal advice to ensure proper compensation for his injury.
The defendant will spend three years in prison if he fails to pay the fine.
Wow! lord put a hand..
Wow what this world is coming to lord put a hand lol!!!
very sad country wake up people
This is so funny. This Gibson guy is always at 7 11 asking for money. The one chance he gets to make $2.00 he has to end up loosing his eye for it. ha ha ha. Oh and Dominicans he lost one EYE. singular it cant be one eyes.
very good. do’nt Gamble, go and find something productive to do before you lose the other eye
AN EYE FOR AN EYE A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.
Two men fighting over two dollars! How ridiculous!…smh
Tell me about it grown adults at that.Now look at the consequence, one lost an eye the other has to pay a hugh fine. They are both idiots.
THAT IS JOKE, A MAN KILL HIS BROTHER IN HOUSTON OVER A CHICKEN LEG!!!!
WAIT AWHILE WAIT WAIT WEAIT! I read that there de first time and i checking is the man dat lose his eyes that would be getting de money wii WTF! Boy, If I was mistah for my eyez? That court house ne judge ne Shillingford going down. They don’t know what that there man? EYES IS TO SEE, Me self i cannot imagine going blind to me once that happen life over.
I am disappointed with dno. Why all you doh give Gibson side of the story? Get Gibson side of the story. Because this story doesn’t justify the guilty verdict neither the sentence handed down by the presiding judge. If we see Gibson’s testimony, then can we see thye justification as it relates to the verdict and the sentence. But anyway, Ishan should have really thought before hitting d man with d bottle and d stone. He never saw d man with any weapon. Gibson was goling to the shop for a ‘step-up’ which he asked Ishan to take him. And it was very poor of Ishan trying to use the man’s well known character to justify his actions. Ishan himself said they had to hold him and bring him by d bay for him not to had finish Gibson. Even if a man is known to society as a rouge or quote on quote trouble maker, doesn’t mean he is always wrong. For instance, I drive on the road each day. So because I see a beggar, parrow or a trouble maker or evn a drunk man, that I should just bounce d man? I have to be careful how I approach d man before he take my pension. They are all human beings, so we still ought to exercise caution and use the force that is ‘necessary’ to defend ourselves. I mean, look at the Lincoln Corbette and Nicholas Roberts case. Lincoln easier shot him because he’s know to be a vagrant. If it was someone different he would have thought 4 times before shooting him. Anyway, I say enough on that.
Hype very commonsence comment. People take note.
This guy trying to look so innocent an pitiful, but he used to terrorize people back in the day. I remember people used to be afraid of him. I think they used to call him seyea or something like that.
tell de court is you that get hurt so give you de 15 grand
d man deserve way more; much much more than 15000. if is me i building a housen on mr when i sue him. d man lose his sight completely. that cannot fix eh boss.
and mr still posing for d camera with his one eye wi.
Hey what about compensation the victim for the lost of his sight,why pay the court fifteen thousand dollars and nothing for the victim, the court system in Dominica sucks, only in Dominica
Self defence using a deadly weapon, only in Dominica, the man need to be compensate for the lost of his sight, that fifteen thousand and more should be going for the victim as we call it up here, victim compensation
Oh what a waste system,man if something of this nature happen to me, which i am not hoping for, when it is all said and done I will be a millionaire, not the court
Attorney thinks that since the 30 yr old has a 10 yr old child, his client should not be locked up for his crime against the older gentleman. The one eye dude should have filed a law suit since August 2008. If he does not file, the court is not going to grant him anything funds for his loss. We need to understand our rights Garcon.
For a $2 man!! C’mon man!!!
pay the court 15,000 dollars? why isnt gibson the one to be paid?
Would it make more sense for the man who lost the eye to be paid the $15,000.00 to help with the hardships of his life, rather than paying the fine to the state and the court? What are your thoughts on that.
i agree 100% .it make no sense the matter went to court because in de end u come out with nothin .what a country ehh
criminally he pays the state but he now has the option of sueing the guy for compensation and the value is much higher. once the he is found guilty criminally then a civil suit is the next step . so he can put a value on his eye and sue the guy for that amount . he may not get all since the judge has to seat on that case again.
It seem as if Gibson provoked the fight that caused the loss of his eye, when he followed Shillingford, who claimed that he left the site of the card game, when Gibson gave him the $2.00 win.
Everyone involved in settling those cases–that these foolish people create– are being paid for their work, the money has to come from somewhere.
Gibson lost his eyes because he provoked inflamed a fight–if he is given money for the loss of his eyes, then everyone will go into a fight to lose an arm and a leg etc, so to get money from the court–where will all of this money come from?
Also Shillingford has a choice to pay that amount of money or to spend 3 years in jail. So that money is not guaranteed for no one.
thats dominica’s “JUSTICE” system for u…. smh..
I see no reason why the court should charge $15,000 for an eye and none of it is going to the victim. The Dominican justice system is all screwed up.
In criminal cases, the state is the victim. In civil cases, it is petitioner against defendant. So if you break a person’s property as criminal mischief, the court may charge you or place you in jail if you cannot or do not want to pay. But if you get charged, the money is not given to the person whose fence got broken. It stays with the court system. It may be time to think about a restorative justice model.
But wait, you mean the victim eh getting nothing out of that $15000? The court getting it share first and then victim have to go and look for himself after?
But things really back to front in Dominica man. What injury did the court suffer that causing them to earn that $15000?
Listen men this is funny, and true, the court did not suffer any injuries but it expect to be compensated, and the guy who lost an eyes.has to go and look for his own compensation with the one eyes his got left.Thats just not fair
So that’s the going rate for an eye in Dominica.
Glad he didn’t know an eye for an eye like the bible teaches.
Anyway I just wanna let the judge know to take it easy on me as I haven’t committed my crime yet.
But as we see in other news, u reap what u sew.
Bus drivers have guns, kids in grammar have guns.
Police even have their illegal guns at fetes.
From the PM to the school crossing guard have weapons.
And the rest of us are targets, not innocent bystanders lol.
Boii one ting allu man just get a lot of time to pay eh
lol man losing eye sight over card game man look it
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
More like “man loses eyes for $2”
Good decision Justice Stephenson, a few more of these idle hands must be sent before you.
Just a pity you could not judge to have his eye jooked out too, he would know what it feels like to inflict that kind of pain on the man.
are u sure he is thirty?
why he looks like he is sixty.
The thirty year old is not the one in the picture,
Shillingford is 30. The man in the picture is Gibson, there is nothing about his age in the news article.
read properly @proud dominican
SOME KIDS KNOS THERE NAME AT THE AGE OF SIX MONTHS OR LESS , SO WHAT IN THE WORLD A 30 YEAR OLD MAN HAVE TO LOSE HIS EYE OVER $ 2′ WHAT WAS HE THINKING’
is not the nthirty year old dat lost his eye, the 30 year old is the one who did the crime
The 30 yr old did not lose the eye…sheeeesh! Read it again.
Shillingford told the court that he got angry and demanded that the Gibson give him the $2 which he earned by winning two games–News Article
This is so senseless! Two grown men enter an argument, where one loses his eyes, over $2.00! What is worst is that there is a penalty of $15,000.00 because of that $2.00. What is wrong with the minds of men? This is just appalling!
Damn, 15k eyes going for now. I selling one things tight!
No but them man stupid, ehh… Things really must be tight if you taking man eyes over 2 dollars…
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa….Let me see if that gibson pardner have a facebook.
put de brakes on dem with no mercy
Will this government ever clamp down the surge in crime when the court system seem to be a means of supporting our non productive economy.