Young man to magistrate: “When I drink my rum I mad”

Thirty-six-year-old Glenroy Joseph of Canefield has been sentenced to two years imprisonment for contravening a restraining order filed by his mother Olivia Phillip, by threatening to kill her on July 7, 2010.

Last week, Joseph pleaded not guilty to the charge before Magistrate Tiyani Behanzin but after an hour-long trial, was found guilty of breaching the said order.

According to the facts, the restraining order which was filed in 2008 stated that Joseph was not to threaten or enter his mother’s home in Canefield.

“When I drink my rum I mad,” Joseph told the magistrate in response to the charge.

Before passing sentence Magistrate Behanzin highlighted Joseph’s lengthy list of threat convictions committed against family members. Those included violations of two separate restraining orders filed by an aunt.

“You want to kill your entire family then?” the magistrate asked Joseph.

“If you can threaten to kill your own relatives what about the passers on the street?” the magistrate asked.

“I not trying to kill nobody. I just talking for my thing,” Joseph told Magistrate Behanzin.

According to the testimony of the complainant, she had filed the restraining order against her son because he destroyed things in her home.

She told the court that about 8 a.m. on the said date, she woke up and saw the defendant sleeping under her house with his pants and other belongings inside her house.

“I took the pants and I throw it outside … When he woke up from sleep he say ‘I cannot believe is my pants that outside there’ … He said ‘I am going by the neighbour when I come back I killing both you and Bernadette’ … He stood up in the yard, he said ‘both you and Bernadette is two nasty’. Bernadette say ‘Leave my mother alone, you too wicked,” Phillip testified.

“He pick up four coke bottles and send them after Bernadette. They didn’t take her. They broke on the porch. He said ‘I killing both of all you today!” Phillip said.

Under cross examination Joseph suggested that he had come to the house for his cutlass. However, Phillip said that this was untrue.

Investigating Officer woman Police Constable Gregory-Anne Henderson, who testified on behalf of the state, said that Joseph seemed angry when she met him on the Canefield public road following the incident.

Officer Henderson said that Joseph appeared coherent and seemed to understand what he was told during his arrest. She said that she had inquired whether the defendant had any mental history, and his mother said no.

Joseph also denied having any mental illness during the trial.

“I have nothing to say again,” he told the court, when it was time to put up his defence.

During mitigation, when asked if he was aware of the protection order filed against him Joseph said, “I threw that (copy or the order) away long time ago.”

“It’s a clear breach,” Magistrate Behanzin said.

When asked to mitigate on his own behalf, Joseph stated, “I say what I have to say already.”

Joseph told the court that he is a farmer.

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12 Comments

  1. Kimora
    November 15, 2021

    Are there any support system in Dominica?
    Rehabilitation….

  2. Anonymous
    July 22, 2010

    Willy is not normal he can hardly make a complete sentence yet on the other hand he can curse like the best of them. He can work but has a serious addiction to alcohol. YES, He should be able to control himself if he knows when he drinks he gets mad, but you’ve got to know the individual to really comprehend that his level of understanding is just………I would like to appeal to the persons/SHOPS/BARS out there who are happy to take his entire salary TO BUY RUM as soon as he gets paid to desist from doing so ESPECIALLY as these people are the friends of his mother and family. If you guys at the bar do’nt take Willy money its not going to make all you poorer than all you are. You know the man is a boy and not to wise one at that (putting it nicely) why you guys so wicked? You know is Olivia he going to attack and destroy her windows and doors repeatedly. I THINK THAT THE POLICE SHOULD ARREST ANY ONE WHO IS SEEN SELLING ALCOHOL TO WILLY. IT MAY NOT BE LEGAL TO DO SO BUT I THINK THE LAW SHOULD BE AMENDED TO DEAL WITH PERSONS WHO CONSTANTLY SELL ALCOHOL TO PERSONS WHO CAUSE OTHERS TO GET DRUNK AND COMMIT ALL SORT OF CRIMES JUST AS THEY AREST CRACK AND MARIJUANA USERS/GROWERS/SELLERS.

    OH BOY NOW I DO EXPECT A LOAD OF COMMENTS ON THE FACT THAT THE GUY HAS A CHOICE TO DRINK OR NOT TO DRINK BUT I STILL SAY THAT WE SHOULD BE OUR BROTHERS KEEPER AND IF YOU DONT SELL RUM TO YOUR NEIGHBOURS CHILD WHO IS CAUSING HER SO MUCH GRIEF WHEN HE IS DRUNK YOU NOT GOING TO LOOSE ANYTHING!!!!

  3. been harrassed
    July 13, 2010

    i know willy and been harrassed by him too. thats his nature and he does need phycological help.. unless he gets the help he deserves he will be a repeated offender….

  4. hippssy
    July 13, 2010

    mr koo koo,and full of .. and limyer.lmao

  5. CAca Beef
    July 13, 2010

    mista have bush
    he needs spiritual help

  6. Jayson
    July 12, 2010

    @jane: no one cares unless they themselves are the victims…

  7. sandy
    July 12, 2010

    I know Willy very well. we basically grew up together at canefield. Willy’s behaviour is never , never a normal one since I knew him. This guy needs to be evaluated urgently. I have known him to be hard working too, but whenever he drinks he would go round the village and would sing loudly and behaving like a mad man.

  8. colihaut
    July 12, 2010

    footay sah lajall

  9. jane
    July 12, 2010

    why do we always make the criminals the heros in dominica? why dont we see it from the victim perspectives and seriously put criminals where they belong (in prison).

  10. @SMDH:

    Alcohol and drug rehabilitation does not work for anyone, unless the addicted person wishes to be rehabilitated, this guy is not a child, he is more than thirty years old.

    He made it abundantly clear to the Magistrate that, ” when I drink my rum, I mad.”

    Anyone who recognized that ” when they drink their rum they are mad” is quite aware of what they are doing, therefore that individual should be in a position to refrain from indulging the substances, that causes them to temporarily loose their sanity!

    His behavior, is not normal; anybody who threatens their mother’s life is not a normal person.

    He should be ordered to be psychologically evaluated while in prison, and treated if necessary.

    As far as I am concerned, this man has some underling problems, which extends beyond alcoholism, he seems to have a physiological chemical imbalance, and I suspect some psychiatric treatment might be in order.

    He is mentally ill, however, not totally demented (crazy), people who suffers from mental illness, are quick to go into denial, though recognizing that they do have a problem.

    Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque

  11. IT
    July 12, 2010

    Even when he is at stock farm he needs to be rehabilitated for that drinking problem,cause he is a serious threat to his own mum and others too!!!!

  12. SMDH
    July 12, 2010

    The man has a drinking problem and should be sent to rehab and ordered to stay away from alcohol. Oh well him being in jail is still better than drinking then killing his mother while under the influence.

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