Barbados: Guyanese woman drops charges against husband

(Barbados Nation) She initially lodged a charge against her common-law husband for assault, but after conversing with some other women in the District “A” courtyard, a Guyanese woman decided to drop the matter against him.

Guyanese Heimchand Dhanpat, 40, of No. 64 Lukes Avenue, Bayville, St Michael, denied assaulting Sarone Gilkes, occasioning her actual bodily harm on January 11.

Prosecutor Station Sergeant Carrison Henry told Acting Magistrate Anika Jackson even though the prosecution would not want to object to bail, there were some concerns.

“There is some concern about his status in the country. He is also allegedly charged for assaulting his common-law wife and the question of where he will stay has arisen,” he said.

When called upon, attorney Samuel LeGay, who represented the maintenance technician, said he was waiting on Immigration to regularise his stay as with many other cases.

An immigration officer told the court, Dhanpat had made an application for immigrant status since 2013, but the application was still being processed.

“I perused his file this morning and there is nothing there basically. I cannot say specifically if it will be approved or not. In the past there were some challenges with Mr Dhanpat and some investigations were still going on, but there is nothing that should stop the application from happening,” he said.

LeGay then added the issue of where his client would reside was invalid as he was moving out of the premises shared with Gilkes later that day.

After the matter was stood down for Dhanpat to secure his surety, LeGay told the court Gilkes wanted to address the court.

Gilkes told Acting Magistrate Jackson that she wanted to drop the case against Dhanpat.

“I have a six-year-old daughter for him and she need she father,” she said.