Magistrate blasts woman beater; Remands man from video recorded assault

The island’s Chief Magistrate called on men in Barbados to stop putting their hands on women as he remanded a taxi driver who was captured on camera beating the mother of his child, even amid her pleas for him not to hit her.

Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes declared that men needed to find better ways to resolve conflict with women, when 42-year-old Tony MacDonald Speedwell appeared before him on Friday for assaulting Erica Reid on August 2, causing her actual bodily harm.

The video of the Rendezvous Terrace, Christ Church, man’s confrontation with Reid, which was recorded by one of the woman’s other children, went viral this week and triggered public outrage on social media.

Speedwell said he “seriously regretted” what had happened and issued an apology to Reid who was not present in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court, even as he accused her of stepping out on him and embarrassing him throughout their almost six-year relationship.

“You all men have to learn to resolve these conflicts better than this,” Magistrate Weekes declared.

“You are being frustrated by the woman’s behaviour, you should have gone for help. I know the men’s organisation will say ‘Mr Weekes, why you crucifying the men?’ . . . . Because the men are doing the same foolishness all the time and are willing to go to jail for a woman.

“If a woman makes a choice other than you, she is free to do so, she is an adult . . . but wunna cannot be putting wunna hands on women. It cannot happen!”

In reading the facts of the case, Sergeant Crishna Graham disclosed that Speedwell had choked Reid, cuffed her about the ribs, head, and face several times, cursed her and attempted to hit her with a pole after she had spent the night away from home and returned around 10:30 a.m. the next day, August 2.

As a result of the altercation, she suffered soft tissue injuries and a swollen face.

The incident occurred in front of Reid’s children, including the seven-month-old child she shares with Speedwell.

Speedwell claimed that Reid had been “going out on me in the relationship, drinking rum, and neglecting the child . . . embarrassing me several times”.

“I took her to the Child Care Board (CCB) and complained to the CCB about stuff that she did to the child, stuff that I going through,” he told the court, adding that his actions stemmed from a myriad of issues.

However, his excuses did not go down well with Magistrate Weekes.

“How dare you put your hand on the mother of your child because you vex she gone out with a man?” he said.

“You cannot tell a woman who to love. This thing about the woman embarrassing you . . . . how and when will you come to grips with the fact that you are suffering emotional pain based on the fact that she is stepping out on you all of the time? According to you, you suffered medically as well but all you all are willing to do is to reconcile, which is not addressing the problem.

“The men’s organisations are not addressing these issues. They are not having online discussions with you all about these critical issues. Something as simple as that – you all cannot buy women. For heaven’s sake, come to grips with reality. You all got to learn to love wunna self first!”

Weekes further told Speedwell that logic, common sense and critical thinking were absent from his generation”.

“This is why when I speak to the leaders of the men’s organisations in this country, they have missed the boat. A lot of you men seem to be desperate. The men’s organisations need to teach you all about self esteem . . . . You all surround yourselves with who cannot empower you.

“A lot of women are in crisis too. Because the women’s organisations, too, they have not kept pace with the reality of what is going on around here,” the Chief Magistrate added.

He expressed frustration that people in such situations were not taking advantage of the many options for help available to them.

“[This] is another thing that continues to annoy me in this country. We have every single organisation under the sun that can help couples, children and everybody, [but] you all do not take advantage . . . . You all spend too much time on social media,” he said.

The Chief Magistrate also pointed to the fact that a child had recorded the incident between the two adults.

“So wunna children growing up learning that violence and that beating a woman is alright,” he lamented.

Speedwell was remanded to Dodds pending sentencing on September 1.

fernellawedderburn@barbadostoday.bb