Dawn Garraway, her face visibly swollen as a result of an attack by her husband who dealt her several lashes to her head with a piece of wood and caused her to lose consciousness, yesterday pleaded with a city magistrate to jail the man because of the blows she has been suffering at his hands.
“Please let him go down, I feeling pain right now; me whole one side black and blue,” Garraway appealed to Magistrate Judy Latchman, who remanded her husband, Michael Augustus, to prison pending a probation report before sentencing.
Augustus, 49, whose actions were described as “stupid” by his attorney, admitted that on June 28, at Georgetown, he unlawfully and maliciously wounded Garraway.
Presenting the facts of the case, Prosecutor Renetta Bentham said that the parties have been common-law husband and wife for the past 18 years.
She explained that the attack occurred after a drunken Augustus, who was being taunted by children in his street, was told by Garraway not to bother with them, since they are only children.
Bentham said Augustus became annoyed with Garraway and began using a series of expletives towards her. His behaviour, she added, caused the woman to ask him to leave the home. It was at this point that the court then heard from the prosecution that Augustus picked up a piece of wood, with which he dealt Garraway several lashes to her head, causing her to fall unconscious for a while.
On regaining consciousness, Bentham said that Garraway went to the Kitty Police Station, where she reported the matter, after which Augustus was arrested and charged.
Magistrate Latchman noted that Garraway suffered a “laceration to the head and deep bleeding,” according to the medical certificate presented by the prosecution stated.
Meanwhile, Attorney Fitzgerald Yaw, who represented Augustus, said that he was not about to dispute anything related by the prosecutor, since it was all the truth. Yaw contended that what his client had done was senseless, adding that he thought that Augustus “would appreciate that he made himself stupid on that evening.”
Condemning the man’s actions, Yaw said that Augustus should never have “taken on the children and allowed an issue like that to enter his home.”
The lawyer described the case as unfortunate, while noting that this was a case of an 18-year relationship which had gone sour for a while. He then made a successful application for a probation report to be done prior to sentencing. In the interim, Augustus would be remanded to prison, the magistrate informed him.
Garraway, when asked by the court if she wanted to say anything, pleaded for the man to be jailed. She said that her husband’s beatings have been continuous over the years.
While addressing the court, a visibly irate Augustus, who stood in the prisoners’ docks, turned to the direction where Garraway was standing and pointing his hands at her, aggressively enquired who will look after their three children if he is sent to prison.
Garraway, however, asserted that the children will be well taken care of.
It was at this point that Augustus’ attorney immediately reprimanded him about his conduct, pointing out that it was the kind of attitude which he exhibited in the courtroom which has been causing him trouble and that he needed to better conduct himself.
The case will be called again at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on July 16 for sentencing.
