An aspiring chef charged with assaulting and using abusive language towards a policeman who was attempting to arrest him, among other offences, was fined on two charges and granted bail on two others when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
Anthony Clarke, 19, had tears in his eyes when he appeared before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty who read the four charges to him. He admitted to a charge that on September 28th at Robb and Wellington streets, Georgetown, he assaulted Joel Samuels, a police constable who was performing his duty to apprehend Clarke for a violation of the law. The second charge stated that on the same date and at the same location, Clarke used abusive language toward Samuels, whereby a breach of the peace was occasioned.
Thirdly, it was alleged that Clarke damaged a motorcycle headlight valued $20,180, the property of the Guyana Police Force (GPF). Clarke was also charged with behaving disorderly in a public place within the public hearing.
Clarke, who was unrepresented by counsel, pleaded guilty to the first and last charges while pleading not guilty to the remaining two. He told the court that he was running errands when he was stopped by the policeman and at that time, he did not have a licence to ride the motorcycle he was on.
According to Clarke, when the constable approached him, he was already upset with how his day was going and that was how he ended up cuffing the officer. In addition, he told the court that he never cursed at the officer. He also asked if he could fix or compensate for the damage done to the motorcycle’s light.
Clarke was very adamant on his request to fix the headlight as he said that he did not want to be in jail. He said that he has a job as a bartender and hopes to be able to save money to become a chef.
The magistrate responded that in order for Clarke to be able to compensate for the headlight, he would have to speak to a representative from the GPF at the next court hearing. She also suggested that he say whatever he had to say before she made a decision on a deserving punishment for the offences.
To this, Clarke replied that he would like to apologise to Samuels. He told the policeman that he was sorry for disrespecting him and hoped that he could be forgiven.
Clarke was then fined $10,000 each for the two charges he admitted to and granted $10,000 bail on each of the two charges to which he pleaded not guilty. He was then advised to attend court for the next hearing on the matter on October 16th.
