Sharpes man jailed for nine months

The court has sent a strong message to men who believe they may beat women with impunity.

Last Monday, a resident of Redemption Sharpes was jailed for nine months, after he pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend and causing actual bodily harm.

When Calvin “Milk” Edwards of Redemption Sharpes appeared at the Serious Offences Court on September 11, Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne-Matthias heard that on Monday, September 4, Woods assaulted his girlfriend Shanique Gonsalves during a domestic dispute.

Reports are that the two have been in a relationship for over one year and on the day in question, at around 8:30 p.m., the two were at their home, when several condoms fell from Edwards’s pocket.

An argument ensued and Edwards is said to have struck his girlfriend several times in her face and other parts of her body, injuring her. The matter was reported to the police and Edwards was arrested.

In defence, Edwards, who was not represented by a lawyer, told the court that although he struck Gonsalves, he was only defending himself, as she had a knife and had stabbed him several times.

“She stab me; she try to kill me,” Edwards told the court, volunteering to show his wounds, to which Browne-Matthias objected, stating that she did not want to see the wounds.

Edwards then informed the court that his girlfriend was outside and when summoned, Gonsalves came into court and stood in the dock.

The Chief Magistrate asked Gonsalves if she wanted to be in court, but Gonsalves said no. She was asked who told her to come to court and she said Edwards had told her to come.

Edwards was asked why he told Gonsalves to come to court and he said that he thought she had to, but the Chief Magistrate said Gonsalves did not have to come to court and chided Edwards for telling her that she had to come to court.

“…So, you carry on the court now?” Browne-Matthias asked Edwards.

“Men supposed to be protectors, not abusers. You cannot beat up somebody and expect them to love you. She came here and she did not want to be here…. A few weeks ago, a woman died…women are being killed almost every Monday morning,” Browne-Matthias commented.

The Chief Magistrate added that where Gonsalves was struck, there is a thin line between life and death.

“You want to choke the life out of the woman?” asked Browne-Matthias, adding, “nine months; sit down.”

Senior prosecutor Adolphus Delpesche supported the Chief Magistrate’s decision.

“He must go to prison,” Delpesche commented.

But in a strange twist to the story, after the case had been heard, when asked by a journalist if she was satisfied with the court’s decision, Gonsalves said she had actually come to court to beg for leniency on her boyfriend’s behalf, but got scared when she was called into court.

Gonsalves said she was intimidated by the atmosphere in court, because she had never been there before and as a result she could not say what she had come to say.

It was also revealed that she did, in fact, stab Edwards and although he had been given injury forms to fill out, he did not fill them out or return them to the police.

Gonsalves said she is exploring the option of getting a lawyer to file an appeal on her boyfriend’s behalf.