A Mabaruma miner was on Friday fined $70,000, after he admitted to wounding a shopkeeper with a broken bottle.
Lindon Benn, 45, pleaded “guilty with explanation” to a charge read by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, which alleged that on February 4, in the North West District, he unlawfully wounded Marcus Hope.
In his explanation, Benn stated that on the said date, as he was drinking alcohol behind a friend’s shop, a girl ran to him shouting “Somebody killing your brother”. He said he went to ask what was going on and saw Hope armed with a cutlass, lashing his brother. He then broke a bottle and threw it at Hope.
According to Prosecutor Gordon Mansfield, Benn and Hope are known to each other and on the day the incident occurred, Hope approached Benn’s brother at a shop and a scuffle ensued between the two. Benn, who was also present at the shop, then broke a bottle and threw it at him. The glass shards from the bottle hit him on various parts of his body, causing injuries.
Benn was fined $70,000, failure to pay which will require him to serve a default sentence of seven weeks in jail.
