A young man yesterday said he wounded his uncle with a knife in self-defence after a row over the television turned violent.
After salesman Devon Garraway’s explanation, Magistrate Faith McGusty changed his initial guilty plea to not guilty and placed him on $30,000 bail.
Garraway, 20, was arraigned on an unlawful wounding charge at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, which heard that he and his uncle Akeem Williams, both of Lot 144 Laing Avenue, West Ruimveldt, had been involved in a fight on July 12, during which the complainant drew the knife.
No further details about the attack or the extent of the injury that Williams received were given to the court by Prosecutor Collin Primus, although Williams was present at yesterday’s hearing, and his arm was bandaged and in a sling tied around his neck.
Garraway alleged that they had issues in the past, which usually stemmed from his uncle “taking advantage on him.”
The issue before the court, Garraway said, occurred because the complainant plugged out the television “seven times” while he was watching it, saying that he “can’t watch no TV.”
The defendant’s grandmother, after requesting a chance to speak, told Magistrate McGusty that she no longer wanted Garraway to live with her as his behaviour “could lead to murderation.”
As a result, Garraway was ordered to remove from the house and relocate to an alternative location, which the court was told that his employers had offered to him.
This, the magistrate believed, would help “to avoid future problems.”
Garraway initially accepted the charge when it was read to him, but asked for an opportunity to explain what had happened.
However, he said his uncle actually sustained the injury during a struggle in which he was trying to defend himself after his uncle drew a knife on him. “I chuck he out the room and returned with a knife.
So, I draw a stick that was under the bed. I end up vising him for about ten minutes.
It was in the scuffle when I was trying to get the knife that he get injured,” Garraway said, causing the magistrate to record a not guilty plea for him instead.
He was placed on $30, 000 bail and both parties were bonded to keep the peace and be of good behaviour pending the determination of the matter.
They are to return on July 31.
