‘Cooman’ fined for physically assaulting his friend ‘Blakey’

A well-known character around Kingstown was yesterday fined $150 for striking an equally well-known character Vincent “Blakey” Cuffy.{{more}}

Rohan “Cooman” Adams appeared before the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court yesterday, charged that on August 18 at Kingstown, he did assault Cuffy, causing actual bodily harm.

According to police, the two men are friends and the incident seems to have transpired after Adams was denied a stick of matches by Cuffy, who is a four-time winner of the National Ex-tempo Calypso Competition.

Police further said that Adams then got annoyed, left and returned and told Cuffy, “You getting your beating now,” before he struck Cuffy at the left side of his face with a bottle.

The matter was then reported to police.

Yesterday, Adams pleaded guilty to the charge, but claimed he did not use a bottle.

“I did slap Blakey, but I did not take no bottle and struck him… I used my two hands,” he told the court.

Speaking as a friend of the court after magistrate Bertie Pompey sought his advice, lawyer Israel Bruce opined that the case is a classic rivalry between Blakey and Cooman.

Bruce was of the view that “persons of lesser income,” such as Adams, usually want to be sent to prison and recalled that a former magistrate, Donald Browne, once said sending persons like that to jail would be a burden on the state.

Taking this into consideration, Pompey fined Adams $150, which is to be paid in one month or he would face two months in prison.(AS)