PHILIPSBURG–Trevor Michael Nedd (44) was sentenced Wednesday to 240 hours community service and payment of NAf. 15,000 in damages to a man he had knocked down at the parking lot of Sonesta Maho Beach Resort, Casino and Spa on August 10, 2016. The victim sustained a fractured skull and barely survived the incident.
Nedd confessed that he had dealt a blow, but claimed he had acted in self-defence. He said he regretted the incident, but claimed the victim, with whom he had a long history of problems, had deliberately bumped his shoulder while he walked in the parking lot checking his phone. He said the victim had confronted him with clenched fists, which made him anticipate a fight.
The construction worker said his former neighbour had always been looking for trouble and had started scolding him. “I became irritated and hit him in the face,” he said.
The blow knocked the victim out. He fell to the ground which caused a severe skull-base fracture.
The victim was present at the Court hearing to file for compensation. He presented the Court with a number of bills for medical treatment in the Dominican Republic and his native Guyana. He said he had not been insured at the time of the incident.
The Prosecutor requested that the Court award US $10,000 in damages, and sentence the defendant to 10 months, five of which were to be suspended, on two years’ probation. He did not consider self-defence proven as the violence exerted was not justified.
“The incident led to considerable physical injury. The victim almost lost his life. His skull had to be surgically opened to save his life,” the Prosecutor stated in considering severe mistreatment proven. “The victim barely survived, and two years later still needs medical treatment,” he said in calling for a prison sentence and compensation.
Attorney-at-law Safira Ibrahim was outraged at the fact that surveillance-camera images of the incident had gone missing at the police station in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. This only left a detective’s report of the images at her disposal.
She claimed her client had acted on impulse when he hit the victim in his face, but denied that he had had the intention to cause injury.
Ibrahim said her client had not moved from the victim’s side until an ambulance arrived. “He comforted him and talked to him to prevent him from slipping into a coma,” she said.
She claimed her client, who is a first offender and father of three minor children, had acted in self-defence and had not made a deliberate attempt to inflict severe bodily harm. She pleaded with the Court to dismiss him from all prosecution, as he had been “in a state of shock, fear and panic.” She said her client was prepared to pay damages, which he confirmed.
After a 20-minute recess the Judge announced that he found maltreatment with severe physical injury proven. He found it plausible that the defendant had felt threatened but responded disproportionately in dealing a blow.
“He got vexed, but not because he was scared,” the Judge said in dismissing self-defence pleadings. The Judge decided not to impose a prison sentence because the victim had also been aggressive. The two-year gap between the incident and the trial, the defendant’s clean criminal record, and the lack of danger of recidivism were other reasons the Judge mentioned.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/79845-compensation-awarded-to-skull-base-fracture-victim
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