A head thing

His declaration of wanting to “plead guilty to bursting de man head” today earned a 25-year-old man who is already serving time at Dodds, an additional six months behind bars.

Daniel Denaro Reece, of no fixed place of abode, was at 1st Avenue, Bank Hall, St Michael on November 13, 2018, when he came across Jody Farnum. According to Sergeant St Clair Phillips, Reece approached Farnum and struck him in the head with two stones, knocking him to the ground before fleeing the scene.

He was later charged for assault occasioning actual bodily harm to which he pleaded guilty before Magistrate Douglas Frederick today, three months after he denied the offence.

Reece explained from the dock of the No.1 District ‘A’ Magistrate’s Court that he wanted to deal with other matters before the court in a bid to focus on a case in the High Court.

However, he told Magistrate Frederick that he committed the act because he believed the guys in the area were searching for him.

“It was a setup. He was trying to get me set up so the group of men would chop me up. At the time I was smoking dope and breaking into people places and I broke into the wrong person place,” Reece said, as he asked the magistrate to take into consideration the sentence he was already serving
at Dodds

Magistrate Frederick said that could not be done in this case.

“Not in this case. Not following the callous manner in which you said it, ‘ I want to plead guilty to bursting de man head’. But you did the right thing,” said Frederick who informed Reece that the sentence would run consecutively to any he is now serving.

The accused man explained that his current sentence would be completed in July this year.

“Can you make it concurrent sir because Verdun [House] still interested in treating me,” he stated.

Frederick, however, explained to him that was not the case and read out a report from the drug rehabilitation centre.

It said that citizens of Barbados were afforded two Government-sponsored rehabilitation attempts in any 12-month period and Reece had already had his quota. The report also stated that he had discharged himself from the programme and as such “would not be eligible for Government-sponsored admission until August 27, 2019”. Further, if he was desirous of being interviewed for possible re-entry before that date he would have to pay $16,500 for the 90-day primary stage of the programme.

Reece returns to court on April 25.