Drunk man who stabbed police in neck ‘must remain sober’

A disruptive drunk who stabbed a police officer in the neck with a screwdriver must remain as a sober as a judge for the next three months or he risks prison time for his actions.

If convicted within the next three months, Roland McDonald of Stubbs will spend three months incarcerated as penalty for the assault bodily harm of Police Constable (PC) Phillips.

Additionally, he must also compensate PC Phillips $300 by October 31, or spend three months in jail.

“Stay away from strong rum,” was the warning given to McDonald by Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne as she handed down this sentence yesterday.

McDonald had graced the Serious Offences Court after spending the weekend in custody. The 48-year-old man had been arrested last Friday, October 11, at Heritage Square.

It was said that on the night in question, PC Phillips was in the area at around 8 p.m., off-duty, when a man came up to him to tell him that McDonald had a large knife and was misbehaving.

Phillips went to area and witnessed McDonald’s actions for himself, and so he started making his way to the Central Police Station for assistance. However, before he got there he met a police transport, and he stopped them. Together, the party of police officers went back to Heritage Square, to the bridge where the defendant was still engaged in the activity of going up to persons and raising the knife at them.

The officers went up to McDonald, and identified themselves. However, when PC Phillips was in the process of carrying out a search on him, McDonald pulled a screwdriver from his pocket and swung it at the officer.

While the screwdriver did not manage to deal more than a superficial wound, McDonald’s target was the officer’s neck.

The Chief Magistrate found that it was aggravating that injury had been caused, the way in which the injury was caused, and that persons were attempting to restrain McDonald because of his behaviour.

She found there were no mitigating features for the offence.

However, for Mc Donald as a person, she said “what is very clear is the remorse which you have shown.” The magistrate noted that the defendant was very contrite, and that he really had no clue what his actions were.

Further, he had pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity.

After all the calculations, and subtraction and addition of prison time based on aggravating and mitigating factors, she arrived at a sentence of three months.

However, after consideration she decided to suspend it, so that the sentence will not take effect unless McDonald is convicted within the next three months.

When the defendant walked outside the court and noticed the cameras he was surprised at first, but then started to smile.