“Wah ever ah do is self-defence”

Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson yesterday remanded to prison a thirty-five-year-old man, who allegedly stabbed another man to his abdomen with a broken glass bottle at a nightclub.

Elroy Thompson of Port Kaituma Canal, North West District, was told while standing in the

Elroy Thompson

dock at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court that he was not required to enter a plea to the indictable charge of felonious wounding.

Thompson, who wore a bandage around his head and one on his left arm, is accused of unlawfully and maliciously wounding Samuel Tyson on July 14 in the North West District. However, he stated that “wah ever ah do is self defence.” He said that on the day in question he was drinking at a nightclub when Tyson and four others approached him and threatened him and his family.

He said that he went outside the club and sent a friend back into the club to purchase “ah quarter fuh me.”  He said that when the friend returned to him with the bottle of liquor, one of the five men took it away from him, saying that “piwari (an indigenous  alcoholic beverage) is fuh you, nah liquor.”

Thompson went on to say that he just laughed and attempted to walk away but he was dealt a blow to his head with a glass bottle. He said that one of the men then took the same bottle that was broken from the blow and stabbed him to his left arm but  it fell out of his hand.

He said that he immediately picked up the same broken bottle and “I start fuh slash and duh is how he (Tyson) geh stab.”  He noted that shortly after that the entire gang of men started beating him. However, Prosecutor Munilall Seetaram stated that on the day in question Thompson was in the club drinking and  he was standing  in front of the television screen while others were watching a show. He said that several persons including Tyson expressed  their displeasure that he was blocking their view but  he did not remove. The  prosecutor said that subsequently Thompson broke a glass bottle and used it to stab Tyson several times to his abdomen which caused his intestines to protrude.

Seetaram noted that several persons who had witnessed the stabbing in the nightclub apprehended  Thompson and gave him a  beating. He also stated that Tyson is currently hospitalized at the Matthews Ridge Hospital.

The magistrate then ordered that Thompson be remanded to prison and transferred the matter to the Matthews Ridge Magistrate’s Court for October 16.