Man accused of stealing lover’s furniture after relationship ends over cheating claims
A taxi driver was last week hauled before the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court for reportedly breaking into his ex-lover’s house and stealing some of her furniture, including a bed, after their six-year relationship went sour over allegations of him cheating with a younger woman.
The 48-year-old man is accused of kicking down the door to the complainant’s house and stealing a bed, a chest of drawers, a dresser, passport, and a bank book.
The court heard that the complainant’s teenaged daughter was home with one of her friends on a date in July when she heard a knock on the door but did not respond.
She then reportedly heard someone turning the doorknob; however, the person, upon realising that the door was not opening, kicked it open.
The court heard that the accused, after reportedly kicking down the door, said to the complainant’s daughter, “Yuh never hear mi a knock?” and she reportedly answered by saying “How mi fi know say a yuh?”
Further allegations are that the accused then went into the bedroom and told the teenaged girl to take up a baby who had been sleeping on the bed and proceeded to remove the bed along with the other items from the house. Before leaving, the accused reportedly told the girl, “Yuh mada style mi and mi naa mek nuh woman style mi again.”
On Wednesday when the matter was mentioned, the complainant told the court that she and the accused had been together for six years and that he had been living at her home and doing nothing to help her.
She, however, told the court that their relationship crumbled after she found a high school graduation picture of a girl in his wallet.
“On July 6 he sent me into his wallet and I saw a picture of the girl, saying class of 2017. Anyway, mi tear up the picture in three pieces and throw it away and confront him about it,” the complainant said.
But she said she later went back into his wallet and saw two pieces of the picture that she had thrown away and it caused an argument.
Shortly after, she said, he packed his bag, took up his key and left. The accused, however, denied the allegations and labelled the complainant a “liar”.
“She use a hammer and broke down her own door, the people next door tell me,” he said. “I used the key and go inside.”
The accused in his defence told the court that the furniture that he took was his and that he did not take the complainant’s passport or bank book.
According to him, while living with the complainant he had rented a two-bedroom house for himself and his son who was attending college. However, he said that when his son left for the country he asked the complainant for permission to keep some of his furniture at her home.
But Parish Judge Laura Montaque told him “If I am with a man for six years I am not resting anything, I am putting them down.” The accused, however, continued by saying “She says I don’t do anything, I do everything. I buy every single thing in the house” while adding, “You see that glass she is wearing, I bought it.”
But he was rebuked by the judge who told him that it was not gentleman-like to speak in such a manner and that if he is in a relationship is expected to spend on his woman, likewise the lady on her man.
The accused then told the court that he had wanted to leave earlier but the complainant had cut up his two suitcases filled with clothes.
“If I waa go then let me go you said I am cheating,” he said.
The judge, however, told him that she is of the view that the complainant’s story is a bit too elaborate to be fabricated.
She then told them that that it does not look right for them to end their six-year relationship with a trial and asked the accused how he wanted to proceed.
But he insisted that he was innocent.
“So what are you saying, I can’t afford those things for myself? I drive a seven-seater car. I bought it for $1.9 million.
“I am big man, I am 48 years old, so what? I can’t afford a bed, I can’t buy a dresser, are you saying that I can’t have that for myself? he asked.
In the end the matter was set for mention on September 10 and his bail was extended.