A one-time top Vincentian model was on Friday brought before the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court charged with calling the wife of a senior government minister a “dirty b***h”.
Yugge Farrell, 22, of Ottley Hall was sent to the Mental Health Centre for two weeks’ observation after she pleaded not guilty to an abusive language charge.
She reportedly uttered the abusive words to Karen Duncan-Gonsalves, wife of Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves, at Prospect, on Thursday.
As Farrell’s lawyer, Grant Connell rose and asked the court to grant her bail in her own recognisance, Prosecutor Corlene Samuel objected, saying that the Crown was asking that the accused be sent to the Mental Health Centre for two week’s observation.
Connell objected strenuously to the application and noted that last year he appeared before the same magistrate, Bertie Pompey, who rejected an application by the same prosecutor for another of his clients who had been sent home from North America be sent for mental evaluation.
At that point, Samuel began to rise and Connell said, “I know my friend is rising to withdraw that application.
“Furthermore,” the lawyer continued, we are asking for bail on her own.
“She (Farrell) is very well known in the society, easily found by the police. She is known by — the average man,” Connell said, triggering some whispering in the court as he seemed to have changed at the last minute what was going to say.
“Top men up the social ladder, so she is easily found,” he added.
The defence counsel said he was shocked at the prosecution’s application to send the woman to the Mental Health Centre.
“Half the people out there, in my opinion, shouldn’t be out there. Once you go out there and you get that injection, that’s when they send them crazy.”
Connell told the court that while Farrell may look very simple, she was a runner up of the Caribbean’s Next Top Model in 2015.
“Next top model, “ Connell emphasized, and reiterated his surprise at the application.
“And I will say it again. When is it? Monday ah tell yo’? Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, emancipate yourself from mental slavery, emancipate yourself,” he said to the prosecutor with whom he has jostled since the court reconvened after the holidays.
“This kind of charge, when Tom Jones is in the dock there, they get bail,” the lawyer said.
After hearing the submissions, Magistrate Bertie Pompey committed the young woman to the Mental Health Centre for two weeks’ observation and ordered that the woman be brought back to court on Jan. 22.
Connell then rose and asked the bench if there was a reason for the decision.
“There is no medical report before you. She (prosecutor) didn’t give an example of what she (accused) did. Did she attack somebody? The prosecution has not laid any basis on which to make that judgment, save and except that she called somebody a ‘b***h’, and the name is there.
“Your honour, I’m appealing to the court not to send her to the Mental Health Centre.”
The magistrate, however, said he has made his order already.
As the court was about to be adjourned for the day, Connell asked if the charge could be put to his client again.
However, the magistrate said if the purpose of the request was for Farrell to change her plea he was not going allow it.
He said that while the accused had entered a not guilty plea, he was not satisfied that she has the mental capacity to plea.
Connell, however, said this was the point in that the prosecution’s application wasn’t that the accused woman was not in a position to plea but that she be sent for observation.
The lawyer then asked if the period of observation could be shorter.
He said that another man who was sent there for observation and should have been in court on Friday was not in court and the prosecution had no update for the court on his location.
“When you go out there, you are treated as if you are not human being. They are still Vincentian,” Connell said.
The magistrate, however, did not change his decision.
Really?
Grant Connell is a troll. He speaks from a position of ignorance!
Grant Connell is far from being a troll, every day he has in court he criticises procedure and behaviour by the prosecution and the police. The real problem as I see it is that this case had already been decided and judged elsewhere by others rather than by the magistrate.
Correctly so Jolly Green, exactly my assessment since the story came out. tried, sealed and stamped before Court trial.
true ,i too agree .
Really is this a joke, what happened to free speech, I’m sure if she did called someone else that, she will not be in court much less be sent to a mental health facility. This fool is a judge not a pyschologist, neither did this young lady displayed any mental health illness. I believe his decision is meant to destroyed this young girl’s life, and this is the way he chose to do it, because he knows that there is a stigma attached to anyone who is sent to any mental facilities. I do hope that the senior government minister will compensate you very well, or should I asked how much were you paid, to destroy her life.
right! they planned to destroy her …they know what she knows in addition to what she called the that lady.Think about it ppl ,its more than what she had been brought before the court for.More deeper than that i think,just my opinion ,again my freedom of speech ,i wish yuggie had that.
Life really not fair. Some can say and do, others cannot, especially the poor and indigent.
Wow! It makes me think of the expression:
“To know who rules you, just find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” These sort of words are directed at people over 1000 times a day in this country but none of us has the power or the petty small-mindedness to prosecute someone for it,
So much for “Sticks and stones will break my bones but words can never hurt me.” The minister’s wife who had these words directed at her should be the one to stop this case from being heard because it makes her look petty, small, and as an arrogant elitist, and in my opinion it is very dumb to ruin your own reputation by going after the weak little people.
I totally agree with you.
A young girl life destroy by someone who could be her mother or a mother figure.
Shameful!
So true shame on minister and his wife they can fi better and help that poor girl I agree
We are a democratic country but some how it feels like a communist country…no freedom of speech…you talk about the government or their loved one you get punished severely….smh I know yugee personally we went to school together (sjck) she is in no shape or form mentally challenged….these people out to destroy people’s lives
Unbothered that is true about freedom of speech.. I made some comments on this same topic and somehow or the other my Facebook page got removed. I had to make over another profile. It seems as tho they’ve already put monitoring equipment in place to monitor what is being said on social media.. But not social media only…it seems to me as tho they’ve got these lawyers,prosecutors,judges and police officers in their pockets to try and intimidate p of svg.
On what evidence the defendant was committed to the mental institution? None whatsoever. The human rights body needs to get involved in this manner. Both the magistrate and the lawyer appears to be ignorant of basic legal principles.
They all know its wrong but they have orders from above and they must follow orders or end up in the mental home themselves.
Mr. Connell please make an urgent application to the High Court to have this order dismissed.
I can find no words to describe how utterly shocked I am at this decision. For calling someone those words you are sent for mental evaluation? Well I guess the entire SVG population ought to be sent there as well. I was not in court but was there evidence presented that the young lady had mental health issues or did the Magistrate just pluck this decision out of the air based on who brought the charges? My heart bleeds for my country.
You are right! If the person on the receiving end of the insult were not so very highly politically connected the same judge would have thrown the case out immediately. What a sad, sad country we are. SVG and many places in the world today reminds me of the movies “Hunger Games” where the elites have everything and the poor are taken advantage of.
This is so sad, has anyone stop to think what could have turn our top model to this state,come on VincentIan let our voice be heard for this young lady.
Where are the parents for this girl? Are they afraid to speak out?
Her voice has been heard on her instagram page, I have seen and heard it and I believe her.
LOL why is tax payers money used to prosecute senseless cases like these. I feel like a Beverly Hill Billy. In 2018 a learned lawyer cannot successfully defend this nonsense? Why would someone have a mental problem to speak those words? So the F word would get you what life in prison?
Tony when you insult or badmouth a member of the dynasty they will make you suffer the consequences the law is not a consideration.
There seem to be more mad people outside than inside.
Vincentians put your fingers on your lips.
God darm it. We as a society is lost. What she [is alleged to have] said was disrespectful but we are a society with freedom of speech and expression. Have she committed a crime? Its beyond me to see such shit coming to a court wasting fvvckin taxpayers money. Is the lady some queen Sheba? Why the magistrate didnt just say, I want you to apologize to the lady. God darm.
You hit the nail on the head with your comment!
If it was simply a matter of insult publicly it should be a matter of private prosecution, not a police matter, certainly not a sanity matter.
“Shortly after the magistrate granted the womans request, the youth displayed some of the behaviour that he might have been displaying at home and threatened to box a police officer in the face and called them b****r man, a derogatory term meaning gay”
THIS HAPPENED IN COURT IN FRONT THE MAGISTRATE, DID THE COURT SEND HIM FOR A 2 WEEK EVALUATION?
Vincy court is a joke! Hope that is not derogatory…..
This happened outside the court.
but it was on video with two policemen present.
REALLY? wow
Tony that case did not involve the dynasty, so a good beating in the inertview room will suffice.
That young lady is a beauty. Maybe the minister’s wife has a grudge against her. Something in the motor beside the pisel.
The court system in SVG is very abusive and unfair to poor people and the youths. For instance look at the matter concerning the Indian thief and the black Vincentian thief.
More to the MORTAR than just the PESTLE. Just a friendly correction on what the saying is and it’s spelling for your future reference
Well said Lost Pet”!
Ppl have to learn to have reapect the young lady is wrong but if the judgement is only to distroy this young lad so help us almighty father
YOU SOUND LIKE A HACK. IS EVERY ONE IN SVG TREATED THE SAME WAY FOR CALLING ANOTHER A BITCH. JUST ASKING
NOT FTOM SVG SO CURIOUS
This sentence seems excessive! It can scar this young woman for life.
Monika it was not a sentence it was an order, which is different. But she was asked to plea and if they thought she was unfit mentally then she should never have been asked to plea. The whole procedure stinks of political interference.
Grant Connel prepare yourself to sue these people!
Simple, I mean she has no right to call anyone a bitch or dirty bitch but that woman she insulted is not Jesus. Wth?
I think that judge is a big idiot. If it was someone else there would not have been a judgement in the first place. Not because she is the minsters wife does not make her better than everybody else. I find it very unfair and the sentence is uncalled for.I think the minsters wife feels she all that but if she was not married to her husband she would not be anything she still is not anything as to go so far to put the poor lady into the mental health institute. mental home don’t cure people it sends people crazy it is better for them to close that place cause it doesn’t make sense have a place that sends u mental and not sane.The court always think they’re right. they don’t think with there minds I think they think with their arse.
Dear Kelly he is not a judge he is a magistrate, in fact he is a much valued supporter of the dynasty, he is former Deputy Commissioner of Police Bertie Pompey.
Are magistrates appointed or elected? Who appoints them? Can they be recalled? This story should be publicized in all countries that send tourists to SVG. These kind of court decisions happen in banana republics not in democratic countries.
Under the ULP Government SVG has been reduced to a banana republic, without bananas. This is an A typical ALBA monster dictator type action.
Mr. Chance, do you think that you did evrything within your power to provide the public with a true picture of this situation.
Did you perhaps intervciew relatives or even the magistrate to find out if there was any prior context why the decision to commit was taken.
Has the lawyer ever visited the Mental Health Centre to see how patients are treated; and by extention the impact of Cannabis (marijuana; weed; ganja) on theMental Health of our young people (he is an advocate for legalisation)?.
A journalist’s duty cannot be simply to report salicious and sensatrional information. It’s to give an unbiased (as possible) account of events and issues.
Do you think you did this? Or did you just further exploit Ms. Farrel’s situation to exrtent your reach?
Sincerely
Dr. Karen Providence
Sorry for my numerous typo’s . I’m not one to get involved in such things; but felt obligated to be a voice of reason in what seemed to be an ignorant onslaught against the Mental Health Services; where people work hard everyday in challenging circumstances, to provide care for our vulnerable mentally ill.
Opinions like those in the article and associated comments are going to further deter people from seeking help for their mentally ill relatives.
I hope reason will prevail here.
Kenton Chance please stop exploiting this situation. For the good of SVG. Stop this silly incitement. You are already a popular person.
Corrections to the above post: Did you perhaps interview …? …..and by extension…..? …to report salacious and sensational….?
Or did you just further exploit Ms. Farrell’s situation to extend your reach?
Dr. Karen Providence,
What is sensational or salacious about presenting an accurate report of court proceedings?
I have never seen a case in SVG where the media interviews the magistrate about the decision s/he has made in court.
Magistrates and the media know about the need for professional distance between us. We interview lawyers and prosecutors, not judges and magistrates.
Do you think that you helped the situation with your call to the radio on Monday?
Kenton X. Chance
It’s an abuse of power. I stand corrected. I don’t think there is anything criminal here. That’s why they think she is crasy to call a minister’s wife a bich. The Priminister’s daughter- in-law !! You got to be crazy that’s the thinking of masa days ideology.
Feee the model.Lets start a movement to help this young woman.
This is one of the many reasons I can’t ever return to live in SVG. There are too many issues in this world much more serious issue than calling someone a ……
Well, it is alleged that she is in a relationship with Camillo. Its a shame that judges, Magistrates and the police in this country is displaying political bias. The magistrate is a joke […]. Calling someone a b..ch, does not constitute any laws being broken. It was a heavy-handed decision. Donkey of the day… he haw,he haw.
You may have something there.
I would suggest, if possible, the young lady turn a negative into a positive. If she is able to write well, she should keep a record and write a story about all this. I am sure there must be somewhere to get it published. based on the amount of comments IWNSVG is getting on this article, (Thank You Kenton!) Vincentians would certainly want to hear her side! she can include her experiences in the mental institution as well as the injustice experienced at the hands of the Elitist, highly biased SVG ULP Court System.
Be careful what you suggest Lostpet, if she announced doing that she may well join Glen, her life may already be at serious risk.
This is totally unbelievable. The magistrate had made a grievous error that violates the rights of this lady in my view. I am truly in awe that you can be committed to a mental institution on a whim with no history of violence or no doctor’s report. What is SVG coming to.
What a joke, Bannana republic tatics?
I’m not condoning what the young lady did. Is this a democratic society? A perfectly sane individual is confined to a mental institution for calling a Minister’s wife a derogatory name. For a judge to make such a decision proves that he is the one that should be sentenced to a mental facility. Why destroy a young person’s life by making such an asinine decision? Is this justice? St. Vincent and the Grenadier is fast becoming a rogue State. Was this done to appease the powers that be? This is wickedness to the extreme. Crazy decision!!!!!!
Well said indeed! It lets us know who rules us. Is it a system of laws enshrined in a Constitution or is it an elite association of individuals?
Dear Fairplay, he is not a judge, he is a magistrate former Deputy Commissioner of Police Bertie Pompey.
Wow! The verdict has been ruled! This reminds me of the book “The animal farm”…some animals are more equal than others. And that is precisely what it is in this case. That young lady’s life has just been haulted because she fought with the wrong kinda people in society. The judge can do nothing but mess up her life because that’s how he is being purpetted. The owners of the land have spoken. It’s a shame.
Dear Tabby you are quite right in your observations this is a dynasticle act by the plantation owners.
Committing people to Psychiatric Hospitals by courts is very common in Cuba, Venezuela, Russia and China. It was a very big thing in the old Soviet Union era left over to today’s Marxist influenced societies like Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. They are sent there sane and when finally released are either insane or all prospects of ever being employed denied them for life because of the stigma. Its a way of destroying the person and their future. A person should never be sent by a court unless instructed to do so by a qualified psychiatrist. Otherwise you can never be sure if the person deserved to be sent there and no way of comparing their behaviour or mental wellness when they return.
Political abuse of psychiatry is the misuse of psychiatry, including diagnosis, detention, and treatment, for the purposes of obstructing the human rights of individuals and/or groups in a society.
Ref: van Voren, Robert (January 2010). “Political Abuse of PsychiatryAn Historical Overview”. Schizophrenia Bulletin. 36 (1): 3335. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbp119. PMC 2800147?Freely accessible. PMID 19892821.
Ref: Helmchen, Hanfried; Sartorius, Norman (2010). Ethics in Psychiatry: European Contributions. Springer. p. 491. ISBN 90-481-8720-6.
In other words, abuse of psychiatry (including that for political purposes) is the deliberate action of having citizens psychiatrically diagnosed who need neither psychiatric restraint nor psychiatric treatment.
Ref: ???????, ????? (January 2010). ????????? ??????????????? ? ??????????: ??????? ????????????????????? ???????. ?????news: ??????????????? ? ???????????????
Psychiatrists have been involved in human rights abuses in states across the world when the definitions of mental disease were expanded to include political disobedience.
Ref: Semple, David; Smyth, Roger; Burns, Jonathan (2005). Oxford handbook of psychiatry. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 6. ISBN 0-19-852783-7.
As scholars have long argued, governmental and medical institutions code menaces to authority as mental diseases during political disturbances.
Ref: Metzl, Jonathan (2010). The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease. Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-8592-8.
Nowadays, in many countries, political prisoners are sometimes confined and abused in psychiatric hospitals.
Ref: Noll, Richard (2007). The encyclopedia of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Infobase Publishing. p. 3. ISBN 0-8160-6405-9.
Ref: Bonnie, Richard (2002). “Political Abuse of Psychiatry in the Soviet Union and in China: Complexities and Controversies” (PDF). Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. 30 (1): 136144. PMID 11931362
It should be asked if there was any directive from the prosecutors office to send her there and who ultimately suggested such. Or was this a political decision?
This is total madnessThis is only happening because of the persons involved and for all we know, Carmelo did have a relationship with this young lady
What a response this story is getting from readers! I am pleased to see there are so many intelligent Vincentians that see the injustice of this incident. Maybe Grant Connell was overconfident because for this to even go to court is ridiculous. We see here that the super-elite get what they want no matter how ridiculous it is. For them to ruin someone’s life because of their elitist thin skin cannot live by the wisdom of “Sticks and stones…” Makes you wonder what would happen if someone actually does something harmful to this arrogant class of people…? Is this done on purpose to make us cower and kneel when the elites just walk past?
What is the meaning of bitch? As far as I know it means someone being unpleasant (rude) if the minister wife knows she is not,why the action? Am sure you have heard or even use that word before and maybe still use it in your mind . Ah wonder if the shoe was on the other foot if anything would have come out of it?(SAD) Apologizing in court with a warning wasn’t satisfactory enough?(SAD) Magistrate and all why the mental health?(SAD) No Love n forgiveness exist anymore (SAD) There goes the golden rule, remember we all have families and life have a way of reminding us our mistakes even Ms Farrell will be reminded in time to come.
What does Markabrah mean?
It means the young lady is more intelligent than most of us who do not know.
I agree, Calling all vincentains, lets start the free Yugge movement
Well if she is with Camillo he is the married one unless he forgets that he is, this can happened though, its called selective amnesia..hehehehe. […]
How can someone be sent to the mental health institute for psychological evaluation because they call someone b…, There must be something more that was said or done. This sentence does not make sense nor the charge.
Was this young lady suffering from mental health issues before?
Im dumbfounded by this sentence. This can damage this young lady mentally and emotionally. In no way Im condoning what was said but in all honesty this is not the way. There is freedom of speech.
Is she staying two weeks at the institute?
Couldnt she of visited every day to do such evaluation?
Im sorry but this magistrate seems to be abusing the judicial system.
In a society where the poor is taken advantage of I’m totally lost for words. I do hope this young lady was not taken advantage of by the minister. It seems to be very prevalent in St. Vincent and the Grenadines where older men take advantage of young woman and this also is a crime. So I do hope this is not the case that this young lady was not sexually exploited.
Any knowledge of the background facts? All orders can be appealed so why isnt it? Perhaps, my colleague is also aware of the background facts and though, he did his best to “defend”, common sense dictated otherwise.
The real problem is that there is only one psychiatrist, only works part time two or three days a week, an old Bajan lady who is retired. She has about 200 cases to look after, how will she find more than a few minutes to evaluate this young lady. And your right why must she be there incarcerated there for two weeks when the psychiatrist isn’t there. Every so often the police gather up all the homeless in Kingstown and dump them at the facility, where they sleep on urine soaked foam mattress’s without covering.
This is clearly not for evaluation purposes it’s a form of punishment.
[…] Vincentians, your taxes pay these people salaries, demand accountability and transparency in your judicial proceedings. If Pompey was appointed to the bench, complain to who appointed him and if nothing is done, vote against that person during the next election. Speak to your neighbours and encourage them to vote. If both parties are corrupt, consider running as an independent so that people have a clear choice. I am willing to help fund the American lawyer who is considering suing the government for the false arrest for the “stolen” iphone. I hope the young woman who was sent to the mental institution sues as well.
Freedom of speech like it dead. The judge probably friends with the dirty bitch and she husband. They trying to ruin that girl.
That’s not nice Carie, but I suppose none of this nice.
Am not fron SVG but the judgment seem very extreme
Why are you all on social media and not on the streets protesting this heavy handed decision ?
Because everyone is afraid of getting a visit at 5 am one morning by Special Branch and the feared Black Squad and SSU in their jungle warfare army uniforms and big automatic guns. They are also afraid of losing their jobs and losing the jobs for the rest of their family and friends. Because that is what is common place here, use of the police force for poititcal and dynasty private affair.
TO THE LAWYER ….IN ORDER FOR THE POLICE TO BRING A SENSELESS CHARGE LIKE THIS, THERE MUST BE A REPORT. THE LAWYER SHOULD GO BACK TO COURT AND ASK THE PROSECUTION FOR THE POLICE STATION DIARY THAT THE REPORT WAS RECORDED IN. I ALMOST CERTAIN THERE IS NO REPORT IN THE POLICE’S DIARY FROM THE MINISTER’S WIFE. THE LAWYERS IN SVG TAKING PEOPLE MONEY AND NOT REPRESENTING……….THIS A NO CASE
This is the st Vincent many of Vincentians are proud of. May God forgive them
Dear Jace, some are scared and some are brainwashed, and the fear is very real.
Time to get rid of the heredity dynasty and to rid ourselves of the continual barrage of filth. Totally unfit to rule, everyone of them.