(Trinidad Express) A truck driver who breached a protection order and beat his wife has been sentenced to six months imprisonment with hard labour.
The magistrate told Mark Mahabir to use his time in prison to think about how difficult it would be if he had been facing a murder charge.
Mahabir, 32, was sentenced in the past to three months in prison on a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against the same victim.
On Wednesday he appeared virtually before Princes Town magistrate Indira Misir-Gosine facing charges of assault by beating and breach of a protection order. The offences were laid by Constable Crawford of the Domestic Violence Gender Based Unit.
Police prosecutor Reagan Ramanan told the court that the victim had last year obtained a protection order, valid for two years, from June 2019 to August 2021.
Ramanan said it was last week Sunday—June 7—that the victim was asleep at her home when she was awakened by Mahabir who wanted to have a conversation. Both were in the living room, with the victim seated on a couch and Mahabir standing. He began arguing with her before he struck the victim about her face, head and upper body with his fists and feet, causing her pain and discomfort.
The prosecutor said she made a report to the Police Gender Based Violence Unit at Mon Repos and Crawford continued enquiries. The victim was also taken to the Princes Town Health Facility where she was treated and discharged.
On June 17, Mahabir went to the Mon Repos Police Station. In speaking with Crawford, Mahabir admitted that he knew about the protection order but said he had not been served with a copy. Crawford gave him a copy and told him it was noted on the order that, at the court, Mahabir had waived his right to be served with the document.
Crawford later charged Mahabir with the two offences.
Before the court, the magistrate spoke of the prevalence of domestic violence in this country and the history of abuse occurring against the victim in the present matter. In sentencing Mahabir to three months hard labour on each of the offences before her, the magistrate told him to use his days in custody to think about how difficult it would be if he were to be charged with murder.
The sentences are to run consecutively, so Mahabir will serve the six months in prison.
