An East Ruimveldt carpenter was on Thursday remanded by Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle on charges of unlawful wounding and maliciously inflicting bodily harm on his wife.
Randolph Garnette, 38, of 36 East Ruimveldt was charged with assaulting and wounding his wife Nichola Benjamin on May 21.
The man initially pleaded guilty ‘with explanation’ but after his explanation the magistrate changed his plea to ‘not guilty’. Garnette said that he hit Benjamin only after she “juk” him with a knife in his back.
The woman admitted to this but said it happened accidentally when she was trying to wrest the knife from Garnette who had taken it from the kitchen and was threatening to use it on her. She said that Garnette returned home on the said afternoon and asked her why she did not answer her cell phone all day. She said that she told him her phone never rang. He then started pushing her around and ran into the kitchen to get a knife, which he tried to use on her.
A scuffle ensued between the two of them and Garnette got stabbed in the process. Benjamin said that she ran outside where Garnette hit her repeatedly with a piece of wood. She managed to escape and went to the police station.
Benjamin said that this was not the first time Garnette had abused her and Police Prosecutor Sherwin Mathews said that he was arrested once for lashing Benjamin in the head with a stool and the woman had blacked out on that instance.
Mathews objected to bail saying that Garnette has been evading the police since last year August and there was a likelihood that they would not find him again. He also said that Garnette might interfere with Benjamin if he was released on bail.
The matter was transferred to Court Four and continues on June 10.
