-charges dropped
Charges against the man who was accused of stabbing a waitress at a Chinese Restaurant at Canefield, East Canje were dropped yesterday after the virtual complainant said she did not wish to give evidence against him.
Patrick Dickson, a porter, of New Amsterdam appeared at the Reliance Court before Magistrate Geeta Chandan to answer charges of unlawfully wounding Carina ‘Anansa’ Holmes on June 29 at around 8:30 pm.
The owner of the restaurant, Sue Hong of Canefield was also charged with unlawfully wounding Dickson on the same night. However after the charges were read Holmes said she did not wish to give evidence against Dickson who also refused to continue with the complaint against Hong.
The matter was then “amicably resolved” under oath and both men were freed of the charges. They were however, placed on a bond to keep the peace for six months.
Reports are that Holmes was stabbed during an argument with Dickson after she allegedly hit him on his head with a bottle. This newspaper learnt that the man was pursued and chopped about his body.
Holmes was rushed to the New Amsterdam Hospital where she underwent surgery and was discharged a few days later after her condition improved. She had also sustained injuries to her knees while fleeing from the attacks.
After the hearing yesterday, she told this newspaper that Dickson apologized to her in court and that she has “nothing against him now.”
She said she made that decision because she is aware that he was also chopped and because she did not “want to go to court very often.”
On the other hand, Dickson told Stabroek News that it is a “great relief that it is over even though I was badly wounded but I am recovering now.”
Holmes who started working at the restaurant three months ago after leaving her home at Charity, Essequibo Coast said she was injured after she defended her colleague, Ramona Leandra Williams, 19.
She said Williams and Dickson were arguing after she did not want to go out with him and he refused to pay for the beer.
Holmes said that Williams insisted that she had to get the money and the man became physically abusive to her; boxing her and hitting her with a beer bottle.
Holmes also tried to get the man to pay, telling him that “we would have to pay it [money] from we pocket if you don’t pay.” She also chided him for beating the other teen and he started to “pull and tug at her” and she in turn hit him with a beer bottle. He then became angry and whipped out a knife and dealt her the stab, causing her to bleed profusely.
However, Dickson said he was disappointed that the Stabroek News carried a “one-sided” story and gave his version on what transpired that night. He related that he did not have an argument with Williams and he had not even asked to take her out. He said he knew Hong, the owner for about six years and he had just “won some money” while gambling at the restaurant.
He said he kept ordering beer and when he was ready to leave some persons told him to buy a few more rounds and he did. Eventually when he was ready to leave he intervened in an argument between Holmes and Williams and the former hit him on his head with a beer bottle.
He said he started to run out of the shop before she hit him again but Holmes ran after him and grabbed his bag that contained CDs, his ID card and other items.
He fell to the ground in the process and two persons started to chop him and used an ice-pick to stab him on his neck. At that stage, he said, he grabbed a knife from one of his attackers and “fired a juk and she got it. The stab was not meant for her but for the two men.”
Dickson who told this newspaper he was sorry for injuring the woman, said he was “screaming for help but no one came to my rescue.” During the struggle, his pants which had $27,000 in the pocket came off somehow.
He said he sustained cuts on three toes on his left foot and the small toe was fractured. He was also chopped on his left knee, left arm, head, under his eye and on his neck.
After the attack he ran across the road to a business place and contacted his mother and the police. He said he stopped a car but did not go to the hospital the same night because Holmes was taken there and he was afraid of being attacked again.
The following morning his mother took him to the station where he gave a statement and the police took him to the hospital. He was treated and taken into custody and then released on $10,000 station bail after Holmes was discharged from hospital.