Tenza Lane, the young woman charged with assaulting Samuel Hinds Jnr, had all the charges against her dismissed yesterday at the end of her trial.
Lane, 18, had been charged late last month with two counts of threatening behaviour and one count of assault causing actual bodily harm. It was alleged that she had behaved in a threatening manner towards Hinds and his fiancée, who is her sister, and that she had assaulted the man.
Magistrate Geeta Chandan-Edmond yesterday dismissed the charges against Lane after finding that the prosecution failed to prove that she was guilty.
At the last hearing, Prosecutor Colin Primus made his submission, asserting that a prima facie case had been established against Lane on all three charges. Several days earlier, Lane’s lawyer, Simone Morris-Ramlall, had submitted that there was no case against her client, especially in light of the prosecution’s failure to
tender the medical certificate, in favour of Hinds, into evidence. She added that the only evidence Hinds had offered was that of a scuffle between Lane and himself. However, she noted, Hinds offered no evidence as to the initiator of the scuffle. Hinds’ medical certificate was subsequently tendered into evidence after Prosecutor Primus reopened the assault case against Lane.
In the threatening behaviour matters, the court found that neither Hinds nor Sonia Herbert, the second of Lane’s alleged victims, had been put in any imminent danger or had need for fear. The decision was made based on the evidence supplied by Hinds coupled with discovered inconsistencies in Herbert’s story under cross-examination, such as her position in the house during the fight.
In relation to her unlawful assault charges, the court believed that Lane had simply been acting in self defence. Though Hinds’ medical report had indicated that he had been scratched, the court did not find the evidence sufficient to prove that Lane had intended to cause actual bodily harm.
Lane was not present in court when the decision was announced.
Hinds had also been charged with unlawful assault stemming from a February 27 altercation between himself and Lane and the case is ongoing before Magistrate Chandan-Edmond.
