‘Hands off!’

“Do not put your hand on that lady again! Fellas who are conscious don’t beat on women especially pregnant woman,” Magistrate Douglas Frederick declared as he chastised an 18-year-old male who pleaded guilty to assault.

Magistrate Frederick also told Clevere Joshua Javon Maycock, of Hinkson Gap, Baxters Road, St Michael that he needed “to be re-educated because when you get frustrated you can’t lash out like that”.

Maycock had moments before pleaded guilty to unlawfully assaulting Kayla Hinds and damaging her cellular phone on April 27.

Station Sergeant Carrison Henry told the magistrate that the accused and Hinds had been in a relationship for the past five years. But that relationship was filled with verbal and abusive situations with Maycock accusing Hinds of being involved with another man. 

As Hinds sat in the verandah with her phone, Maycock accosted her, accusing her of infidelity. Hinds responded with a similar counter-charge, to which he “cuffed” Hinds’ hands, causing her to drop the phone damaging it.

“The lady is pregnant for me. We have been in a relationship for five years but broke up in March…. I was vex at the moment…. I did not directly hit she, I didn’t hit she to hurt she, I knocked the phone out of her hand,” Maycock explained even as he revealed that the complainant was 17 years old.

The explanation did not suffice with the magistrate who asked Maycock: “How does that sound to you; she is pregnant with your child, your child and you hit her. Fellas who are conscious don’t beat women especially those pregnant with [their] child.”

The magistrate then ordered a report into his life in preparation for sentencing. He was granted $2,500 bail, which he secured with one surety with a warning to keep his hands to himself.

Maycock returns before the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on July 19.