Avenel Innis, who said she was being prevented from seeing her children by her ex-husband, was yesterday cleared of charges that she verbally abused him and damaged windows of his home.
Innis admitted to Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton, at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, that she used abusive language to Sherwin Holder and maliciously damaged four louver panes and two glass windows at his home.
The prosecution stated that although Innis is the mother of Holder’s children, the two do not live together anymore. On August 22, the prosecutor noted, Innis went to Holder’s home demanding to see her children, but was told she could not due to a pending custody matter between them at the welfare department of the Human Services Ministry.
As a result, Innis became annoyed and started to verbally abuse Holder.
When given the opportunity to speak, however, Innis told the court that Holder would ill-treat her and abuse her and so she was forced to move out of their house. Innis added that she would do a number of works in and about the house to get money to maintain herself, but when it was time for Holder to pay her, he would beat her and chase her out of the yard. She added that on the day in question, she went to see her children because it had been a while since she had visited them.
But Holder said that Innis was “delusional” and needed medical help. He added that this was why he did not want to see Innis be placed in jail for the offences.
Magistrate Octive-Hamilton then interjected, saying that Innis looked perfectly fine and that she answered and responded to every question and statement.
As a result of the conflicting accounts, the magistrate adjourned the case until yesterday afternoon, so that the Probation Officer who was dealing with the couple’s custody case would be available to give information, so that she could make a decision.
When the case was later called, Holder was absent for the proceedings. The magistrate subsequently reprimanded Innis and discharged the case against her, advising that she should seek help from the legal aid clinic to gain visitation rights to see her children.
