Vendor on wounding charge granted bail

WESTERN BUREAU:

A St James man who reportedly chopped two men as revenge for a previous attack on his father will have his case mentioned before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on July 31.

Twenty-eight-year-old vendor Merrick Williams, of Barnett Bush in the parish, is charged with two counts of unlawful wounding. He was offered bail in the sum of $350,000, with up to three sureties, when he appeared in court on Friday, June 14.

The court was told that on May 11, at approximately 11:30 a.m., Williams and his brother, armed with machetes, chased one of the two complainants along the Springfield main road in Barnett Bush and chopped him on his head, shoulders and hand. Later that day, at about noon, Williams accosted the other complainant at his house and chopped him on his arms and legs.

The police were contacted, and following investigations, Williams was arrested and charged four weeks later. Under caution, he reportedly said, "A them first attack mi father."

In making a bail application for Williams, attorney-at-law Albert Morgan told Resident Magistrate Carolyn Tie that his client's father had previously been assaulted by a group of men and that the defendant was not a violent man.

"My client has instructed me that he went to purchase bananas and heard his father crying out for help. When he went to investigate, he saw seven persons attacking his father," said Morgan, regarding Williams.

'NOT A TROUBLEMAKER'

"He (Williams) went to his father's assistance and got into a struggle with one of the men, who was holding a machete. There were not two separate incidents as the Crown alleges," added Morgan. "He's not the sort of violent troublemaker that the Crown would make him out to be. He was concerned for the safety of his father."

The clerk of the court, Orrett Brown, told the magistrate that the medical certificates for the two complainants, who were not present in the courtroom, had not yet been submitted for the case file.

"The medical certificates are still outstanding. If the court is minded to grant Mr Williams bail, we would ask that he remove from the district," said Brown.

RM Tie subsequently ordered Williams to return to court on July 31.

- C.T.