Ceon Edwards, accused of beating his wife for a second time in as many months, on Tuesday complained to a court that police ignored him when he tried to make a report after she allegedly assaulted him.
Edwards, 29, who had been charged with assault last November, found himself at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court accused of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Melissa Kattow.
He pleaded not guilty when the charge was read by Magistrate Zamilla Ally. And despite Edwards’ complaints to the magistrate about police ignoring his reports, Kattow was also charged with assaulting him. She too pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutor John Singh objected to bail for Edwards. He said it was the second time Edwards was before the court and he did not learn his lesson from the last time. “Edwards has now upgraded from assault to grievous bodily harm,” the prosecutor said.
Singh told the court Kattow had suffered several slaps and punches from Edwards this time around, causing her hand to sustain injuries. He also said Edwards failed to seek counselling and he was afraid that the abuse might continue if he were released on bail.
Despite Singh’s objection, Edwards was released on $100,000 bail.
Kattow was released on self-bail.
Before Edwards left the courtroom, he told the magistrate he tried making two reports at the Sparendaam Police Station, after his wife allegedly assaulted him. But the officers ignored him. The magistrate told the man if that was the case he should have complained at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary.
The matter was adjourned until February 9 for a probation report, which the prosecutor asked the court to request.
Last year, when Edwards was charged with assaulting Kattow, he had told the court that their encounter occurred on November 6th but she only made a complaint on November 24th.
The man’s question prompted then magistrate Alex Moore to ask Kattow about the objective of bringing her husband to court.
“Did you want to use this assault as an ace card?” he asked her before she could respond.
“Yes. I did not like how he speak to my son last night,” she had replied with a smile.
The magistrate then asked Kattow if she hit her husband and if her actions were because of a need for attention. Kattow smiled again and she said, “Yes, but he is the one that tell me I must fight back.”
Edwards had also told the court that his wife constantly threatened to take him to court and she even told her son that he would soon be in jail.
The magistrate had admonished the woman and told her she could not hit her husband, nor could she bring a two-year-old into two adults’ argument. He told her that constantly threatening to take legal action when they have a disagreement amounted to psychological torture.
