Retiree on remand after beating drinking partner with pipe

A 70-year-old retiree is now at Dodds Prison reflecting on his actions of beating his friend with a piece of pipe over money owed.

Allan Alston Belle of St Ann’s Road, the Pine, St Michael, appeared before Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes and pleaded guilty to unlawfully assaulting Ryan Fergusson, occasioning him actual bodily harm last Saturday.

Sergeant Randolph Boyce told the No. 1 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court that the two men were friends who drank together daily. Belle would help Fergusson clean up around his property and would be paid for doing so, but some payments were missed.

Last Saturday, the two were at a shop drinking when they argued over the owed money. Belle took up a piece of pipe and struck Fergusson about his body, injuring his right shoulder and hand, chest, stomach and legs.

Belle told the court that he was owed $100 and during the argument, Fergusson said “he would send somebody for me”.

The chief magistrate remanded him until Thursday when he will return to court for sentencing.