‘It’s over’

“Move on!”

Magistrate Douglas Frederick delivered this strong advise to a husband who today admitted to beating his wife.

According to the facts, the two have been married for seven years but have been separated for the past few months.

Today, the wife, Devere Arthur, told the magistrate that the “immaturity” of her 38-year-old husband, Ricardo Antoine Arthur, of Shop Hill, St Thomas, had become “too much” and as such the relationship was over.

She made the comments moments after Arthur pleaded guilty to assaulting her occasioning her actual bodily harm on June 6.

The court heard that Arthur, a mechanic, had moved out in April this year but still visited the residence where his wife and her daughter lives.

Around 8:30 p.m. on the mentioned date the woman was at home when she heard a knock on the door. When she made a check she realised it was her husband but did not open the door.

On seeing this, Arthur went to the area of the woman’s bedroom, climbed through a window, walked to the living room where she was sitting in conversation with a male friend.

He walked up to her and pulled her hair, igniting a fight between the two. The fight spilled over into the kitchen where he struck her on the back of the neck and kicked her after she fell to the floor. She sustained soft tissue injury to the neck and an abrasion on the lip.

“I am very sorry that it happened that way so I am asking for a chance today,” was Arthur’s plea.

The magistrate asked him to explain his behaviour and reason for climbing through the window saying, “You have to move on because this woman has moved on”.

It was at that time that his wife made it clear that the relationship had ended.

“Yes the relationship is over based on an altercation before this one . . . . he had leave home and was dealing with another lady. . .

“What he think it was [when he came in the house] was not what it was, he got the wrong impression . . . . I did not open the door because I was just following the instructions of my lawyer,” the woman explained adding that she had also sustained bruises on her breast.

Magistrate Frederick told her that Arthur was “eligible for jail” but she responded: “I would not like that”.

“ . . . But his immaturity became too much . . ..he does not want me, but still does not want me for anybody, which is not fair to me. Me and the guy are not involved,” Mrs Arthur said

“You can’t go about beating women . . . move on,” Frederick told Arthur as he ordered that he undergo anger management through the Probation Department.

The magistrate also placed Arthur on a bond to keep the peace for a one year.

If he breaches the order he will spend three months in prison the magistrate said adding “money will not cut it because your behaviour is what I am concerned about.”

Asked if she could save the marriage the woman responded: “Not after how he break in my house and . . . . I get licks.”

Arthur will make his next appearance in the in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on June 12.