BEATING AND STEALRY INA JAMAICA COURTHOUSE

Pastor batters sweetheart after she calls him a homos*xual
Covering the Courts

A pastor of a Kingston church was the star of the prisoner’s dock last week inside the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court, after he appeared before the judge for hitting his common law- wife because she called him a “homos*xual”.

Ricardo Bryson, 33, minister of religion of a Spanish Town Road address in Kingston, found himself on the wrong side of the law and his reputation at risk after he was arrested and charged with assault occasioning bodily harm.

The pastor told the court that he lashed out at his spouse and hit her after she insulted him during a quarrel at their home on June 18.

But before explaining why he had hit his lady he tried to paint a reputable picture of himself, but was stopped in his tracks by the Parish Judge Chester Crooks.

“Both of us in a business and I am a minster of religion. I try to live a respectful life and the thing about me is that I always try to protect my reputation,” he said before the judge told him to get to the point.

“Listen Sir, the clerk asks you if you guilty and you said yes, so we are waiting for an explanation. And frankly, I don’t know why you want to start by announcing that you are a minister of religion,” the judge said amidst laughter from the court.

In continuing, Bryson said that he and his companion had a verbal confrontation during a discussion about one of his acquaintances who persons were calling a homos*xual.

But he said that during the argument she turned to him and said, “ …That’s why dem call you homos*xual.”

“So you hit her?” the judge asked.

“Yes,” the pastor answered while agreeing with the judge that he did it because he felt insulted.

The judge then asked the complainant what she wanted to happen to her partner and she said: “I just want him to be disciplined because he had no right to hit me, and what he did was wrong.”

However, when asked if they were still together she said that they were trying to work out their issues, and begged the judge to give Bryson a chance.

During further queries from the judge she said that it was the first time that Bryson had hit her.

The judge then told her that he would be as lenient as possible but indicated that he had a serious problem with men abusing women. But he also stressed that he equally is not very tolerable of women hitting men.

“But since you boldly announced that you are a minister of religion, I don’t understand why you putting your hands on anybody like that,” he told Bryson.

At the same time, he told the pastor that while he understood that things happen in the heat of the moment, he could see that humility was not his strongest trait and that he was now a part of the country’s crime statistics.

He then ordered Bryson to apologise to the complainant and he complied.

“I am sorry for offending you and for hitting you, and it should never have happened and it won’t happen again,” he said.

Judge Crooks then told the complainant that he will yield to her wishes and no evidence was offered against Bryson.

But before dismissing the pastor he told him: “I want you to remember that the reason you are walking away a free man with no criminal record is because of her.”

Man breaks babymother’s nose with brick during domestic dispute

A man was hauled before the court for using a brick to break the mother of his child’s nose, after he got upset when she asked him for money to purchase a pair of school shoes for their child.

Dave Tyrell, unemployed of Pink Lane in Kingston, was arrested and charged with unlawful wounding following the attack on his baby mother on May 28 at his home.

The complainant reportedly went to visit Tyrell and asked him for money to buy shoes for the child. But Tyrell, in response, started using indecent language to the complainant, and began to swear.

An argument developed during which Tyrell picked up the block and hit her on the nose.

The complainant was assisted to the Kingston Public Hospital where she was admitted for one day.

On Thursday when Tyrell appeared in court he pleaded guilty but indicated that he had not hit her deliberately.

“It was not intentional,” he said.

“She come in a mi yard about 10:30 and a mek up noise bout shoes, but is she rush me,” Tyrell added.

“Where was the brick,” Parish Judge Simone Wolfe Reece asked.

“It was on my mother’s step,” he replied.

“So why you take up the brick at 10:30 in the night?” the judge further probed.

“It was just to intimidate her. Mi naa go hit her but she was saying things that I don’t want to mention here,” Tyrell replied.

He then told the judge that he has since apologised to the complainant and that he has taken her prescription and is going to pay for it when he gets money.

The complainant was then asked about her doctor’s bill and she told the court that her nose was broken and that she was out of a job for two weeks.

She then told the court that she wanted $35,000 for her doctor bill and time spent out of a job, which Tyrell agreed to pay in small amounts.

His bail was then extended for him to return on July 19 with the first payment.

Hairdresser to face music for stealing customer’s cellphone

A young woman who stole a woman’s cellphone from her handbag while she was doing her hair at a salon is to be sentenced on August 18.

Kerry-Ann Smith, 18, hairdresser and student of Barbican Road in St Andrew, was taken into custody and charged following the theft.

The court heard that on June 10, the complainant went to the hair salon in Golden Spring, St Andrew, where the accused worked part-time. While the customer was getting her hair styled, Smith went into her handbag and took her cellular phone, valued at $20,000.

The customer later discovered her phone missing and reported the matter and, following an investigation, Smith was arrested and charged.

The phone was also recovered.

Last Tuesday when Smith appeared in court she pleaded guilty to simple larceny.

The presiding parish judge, Simone Wolfe-Reece ordered a social enquiry report and extended Smith’s station bail. She will be sentenced on August 18.