“She hand or no bone na break or anything,” Martin McLennan yesterday told Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry as he tried in vain to negotiate a lighter sentence after he admitted to stabbing his common-law wife multiple times with a broken bottle.
He was sentenced to three years in jail for unlawfully and maliciously wounding Josephine Armstrong on November 9, 2014, at Meadow Bank.
Prosecutor Michael Grant told the city court that the couple had constant misunderstandings and on the day of the attack Armstrong was going home when she had a confrontation with McLennan.
The man armed himself with a broken bottle and stabbed the woman repeatedly about her face and body.
The injured woman was transported to the hospital by public-spirited persons, while McLennan was later arrested after the matter was reported, Grant stated.
McLennan yesterday apologised to his wife in court and promised to never again hurt her. “I am very sorry to my wife. I made a mistake and will never do it again,” he said.
However, his apologies did not move the Chief Magistrate, who sentenced him to three years behind bars. When he heard of the sentence, he begged to be allowed to compensate his wife. “I will like to pay a compensation, madam. She hand or no bone na break or anything,” McLennan pleaded.
Armstrong, after hearing the sentence, offered to give an explanation for McLennan. She claimed that her husband was never a bad man. “Is 11 years we live together, Madam,” she said, “and he was never a bad man to me.”
Nevertheless, after the magistrate analysed the medical certificate for the injuries sustained by Armstrong, she noted the severity of the wounds and advised McLennan that he should be grateful that he was only given three years.
