A 28-year-old-man was fined $30,000 with an alternative of 12 months imprisonment when he appeared in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on charges of assault and disorderly behaviour.
Andre Afrance pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer while in the execution of his duties and to behaving disorderly in front of a police station.
The defendant told the court that he was at Chilly’s bar at Ruimveldt, East Bank Demerara, on Saturday night and attempted to part his friend who was involved in a fight with another man. He alleged that the two were in possession of knives which they were using to stab each other so he told his friend to make a report at the nearby police station.
Afrance said he was accosted by a policeman in plain clothes, who pushed him and they ended up in a scuffle. He was then charged and locked up.
However, Police Prosecutor Denise Griffith told the court that a police inspector was alerted to a loud noise outside the Ruimveldt Police Station. When he went to investigate, he saw two men involved in a stabbing confrontation and asked two officers to escort them to the hospital. She said it was at this time that Afrance chucked the policeman shouting that he was not going to any hospital, using expletives in the process.
The magistrate told Afrance he needed to watch his behaviour because it could have been a worse situation.
