Teenage block-maker Omari Sinclair was yesterday placed on $50,000 bail after telling a court that he was only defending himself when he hit the uncle of one of his friends with a piece of wood.
Sinclair, 17, of 59 Cross Street, admitted that on July 9 he unlawfully and maliciously wounded Denzel Lawrence and maintained a guilty plea even after Magistrate Fabayo Azore explained the penalty the offence carries.
However, after a thorough explanation of the ordeal, the magistrate recorded a not guilty plea on his behalf instead.
When the matter was called at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court yesterday, the court heard that Sinclair and Lawrence had been involved in a heated confrontation over the man’s niece, who is Sinclair’s friend. During the confrontation, the teen said, Lawrence pulled out a pair of scissors and rushed towards him.
Sinclair said that prior to the day in question, Lawrence’s niece warned him that her uncle planned to “do him something” whenever he saw him.
Lawrence, he said, had told his girl’s family that he was “putting her to do nasty things.”
He added that the girl came to him crying with news of her uncle’s reports and he was forced to confront Lawrence to inquire about it.
“I went and asked him why he tell her family them things, ‘cause me and he are not friends. We never had no talking,” he said.
Sinclair added that it was at this point that Lawrence pulled something from his waist and rushed towards him.
“I chucked him and he come running back with the scissors. So, I picked up a piece of wood and lashed him,” he explained.
After no objection was made by Prosecutor Burgett Grant, Sinclair was placed on $50,000 and the case was adjourned until July 17.
