A manager of Princess Hotel’s casino was yesterday charged with chucking a patron.
Australian national Muammer Pirinçcioğlu, 47, denied that on May 25, at the Princess Casino, he unlawfully assaulted Paul James.
The charge was privately instituted and the case is being heard as a civil matter.
Pirinçcioğlu was admitted to bail in the sum of $20,000 by city magistrate Judy Latchman, following an application by his lawyer.
Attorney Omeyana Hamilton said she did not want to delve into the facts of the charge, but asked the court to note that her client never touched the complainant.
According to Hamilton, James was behaving disorderly on the day in question, giving her client reason to ask him to conduct himself in a proper manner. She added that it was another manager who held on to the man and asked him to leave. She also said that the defence is in possession of video evidence to substantiate its claims.
Hamilton asked for her client to be admitted to reasonable bail, while noting that he has no antecedents and poses no risk of flight.
The lawyer said that Pirinçcioğlu, who is a father of one, lives at the hotel and is here on a five-year contract.
She also requested that he not be asked to lodge his passport as a condition for bail since the matter is a “simple common assault one.”
But attorney Ganesh Hira, who is prosecuting in the case, had no objections to Pirinçcioğlu being granted bail but requested that he lodges his passport, considering that he is a foreign national.
When asked by the court the nature of the assault, Hira said that the defendant held on to James and chucked him.
After hearing the submissions, Magistrate Latchman placed Pirinçcioğlu on $20,000 bail and ordered him to lodge his passport at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts and not with the police as they are not the prosecutors in the matter.
Pirinçcioğlu will make his next appearance at the Providence Magistrate’s Court on September 22.
