Man remanded after attack at Clapham courts

A St Michael man has been remanded to Dodds Prison and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation after admitting to an assault involving a makeshift incendiary device.

Randy Christopher Brathwaite told the court he could only recall waking up in hospital but not how he got there.

The 45-year-old Clapham Road resident was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation during the next four weeks after admitting to unlawfully assaulting Rolan Belgrave on April 25.

Prosecutor Sergeant Victoria Leacock told the court that Belgrave was watching volleyball on the Clapham courts when Brathwaite, who was unknown to Belgrave, walked up behind him and shouted: ‘You is de one dat shoot at me’ while armed with an aerosol can and lighter. 

Brathwaite then sprayed the contents of the can and lit it, resulting in a large ball of fire, which he directed towards Belgrave, singeing hair to the back of his head and his elbows. He attempted to get the can away from his assailant, who then pulled a knife, which Belgrave knocked away. Brathwaite fled the scene.

On May 7, Brathwaite was seen by Belgrave and the police were contacted. After his arrest, he told officers that while he remembered being at the basketball court and being armed with a knife at the time of the incident, he could not recall the incident or what became of the can or lighter.

Appearing before acting Chief Magistrate Douglas Frederick with a bandage on his head, he told the No. 1 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court: “I wake up in the hospital and I can’t tell you what happened. I can’t explain what happened. I don’t know if I was sleepwalking.”

Magistrate Frederick replied: “This is serious as a man was sitting down watching volleyball and you attacked the man in a violent way and you cannot remember anything. This could have gone very badly.”

Telling the court that he was a machine operator, Brathwaite said he was not on drugs but smoked marijuana “as everybody does smoke weed”. He later admitted that he had been prescribed medication at the psychiatric hospital last year, but had stopped taking it.

The chief magistrate responded: “So you are not good, that is what is happening. You should still be getting this medication. That you are having these lapses is concerning because it means that it could be anybody. You may have a relapse and you have to get some sort of psychiatric help in a structured environment because you cannot walk about so…You cannot be driving heavy machinery and having these lapses because then you are a danger to others and yourself.”

Brathwaite was remanded until June 8.

(JB)