A minibus driver and a conductor, who are accused of wounding each other, were yesterday placed on $25,000 bail each by acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
Gobin Persaud, 59, of Cummings Lodge pleaded guilty to the charge of unlawfully wounding Davendra Etwaroo, 19, also of Cummings Lodge, on July 27. Etwaroo pleaded not guilty to the charge of assaulting Persaud on the same day.
Persaud said he was sitting in a chair next to a gutter at the bus park loading passengers when Etwaroo approached and told him it wasn’t his turn. He said they argued and Etwaroo later pushed him into the gutter, causing him to hit his head on the concrete.
He said he saw Etwaroo and his father later reaching into their bus for something so he armed himself with a piece of wood to defend himself. Persaud said Etwaroo ran up to him and that in his defence he struck him. On hearing this, the magistrate entered a not guilty plea for him.
Etwaroo refuted Persaud’s version of the incident, saying the older man was the aggressor and that after they argued he dealt him several blows with a piece wood. He said the wood had several nails and one of the blows sent them into his flesh.
After listening to both men, the magistrate ordered that the case be transferred to Court Ten for September 10.