A police officer caught in a viral domestic violence video walked out of court a free man on Monday morning after his common law wife told a magistrate she wanted no further action. Police Constable Phillip Garbutt, thirty-nine, of the Traffic Support Unit, had been charged with wounding his common law wife and harming her eight year old son. Both charges were dismissed shortly after ten a.m. yesterday. The case fell apart when thirty-eight year old caregiver Deidra Jacobs took the stand and told the court, “I nuh wah no further court action.” Prosecutors questioned her closely, asking if she had been threatened, pressured, or offered anything to withdraw the case. Jacobs answered no each time. With the virtual complainant unwilling to proceed, the prosecution offered no evidence, and the magistrate dismissed the charges. Garbutt, who appeared without an attorney, was told he was free to go. The case drew public attention after video footage from inside the home surfaced online and went viral. The footage led to Garbutt’s arrest following a February seventeenth domestic dispute at a Watermelon Street residence. Police reports allege Garbutt choked and punched Jacobs during an argument and later slapped her son when the child tried to intervene. Doctors later classified Jacobs’ injuries as wounding and the child’s as harm. Despite the viral footage and public backlash, the criminal case is now closed. Whether the incident leads to any internal police action remains unclear.
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