Just weeks after being placed on a bond to keep the peace, a 32-year-old conductor has begun a three-month prison sentence for breaching it after admitting that he slapped and bit another man last Friday.
Dario Jamar Cheltenham, of Phillips Road, St Stephen’s Hill, will return to the District ‘A’ Traffic Court next month to learn his sentence for assaulting Ramon Marshall, occasioning him actual bodily harm, and damaging his spectacles on October 23.
He pleaded guilty to the charges before Magistrate Jared Richards, just weeks after being placed on three month bond in another matter.
Police Constable Troy Tudor told the court that both men work on route taxis plying the Jackson route and are not on speaking terms. Marshall was travelling along Warrens Road when he saw Cheltenham standing in the road and blocking traffic.
Marshall and the passengers in his van told Cheltenham to move out of the way. Cheltenham walked up to the van and, without provocation, slapped Marshall across the face, damaging his glasses and causing his right nostril to bleed.
Marshall chased Cheltenham, who ran towards the Dome Mall car park. Both men fell, but Marshall, with another person’s help, held on to Cheltenham. The accused then bit Marshall on his upper back.
Marshall reported the incident to the police and sought medical attention.
“Honour to God, I won’t tell any lies. I would deal straight with you, Sir, because you deal straight with me. I had alcohol in my head,” Cheltenham told the court, “I know what I do and I was wrong. My apology, and I would never do it again.”
Admitting that he did not have the $500 fine which was due immediately for breaching the bond, he said: “I would have to go up and do the time and when I come out find a way to pay the man for his glasses.”
Magistrate Richards said: “You were just in here and I gave you a chance and placed you on a bond because you didn’t have anybody to sign bail. The matter was finished and all you had to do was behave! Now you are back in here again for assaulting somebody. You are obviously taking this for a joke. You injured this man and broke his glasses. You are making no sense at all. So,
I am going to talk to the complainant and see how much compensation you will have to pay and if you cannot pay, you will have to serve additional time following that for breaching the bond.”
The hearing was adjourned until November 9.
(JB)
