Argument about vaccination led to man pulling weapon at polyclinic

A man who pulled a knife at the St Philip Polyclinic, during an argument with a nurse about his daughter being vaccinated, has been remanded to Dodds Prison after pleading guilty to charges stemming from the incident.

Tical Romario Smith, 27, of Gemswick, St Philip, was on Tuesday sent to prison pending sentencing after he entered the guilty pleas. Appearing before Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court, Smith admitted to the unlawful assault of Camile Hunte on January 18.

He also pleaded guilty that without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, he had in his possession an offensive weapon whilst at the polyclinic, a public place, and that having lawfully entered upon the premises, misconducted himself by behaving in a threatening manner.

Outlining the facts, court prosecutor Randolph Boyce said that Smith accompanied his child and her mother to the polyclinic in Six Roads, St Philip to get immunised. The mother explained to Nurse Hunte that while she had a baby – from another father – who was scheduled to be vaccinated that day, the older child did not have an appointment. The nurse explained that she would administer the shots to the baby but that the designated immunisation nurse would vaccinate the other child, and told the mother to bring the infant.

When the mother left, Smith questioned the nurse as to why she could not administer his daughter’s vaccine. This led to an argument, during which the man pulled a flick knife, causing the nurse to fear for her life. Smith then walked out of the room and police were called.

His name and address were pulled from his daughter’s records to locate him.

Speaking about his actions, Smith told the court: “We did have a quarrel and I said, ‘People like you does mek people do things’.”

He said he pulled the knife when he saw the nurse pick up something off her desk during the quarrel.

Smith apologised for his actions.

Magistrate Weekes ordered a pre-sentence report and remanded him to Dodds Prison until February 20.