Court summons mother to explain why sons 19, 16, 7 living alone

Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne has summoned the mother of three youths to appear before the Serious Offences Court tomorrow (Tuesday) to explain why her sons, aged 19, 16, and 7 were living alone in Kingstown while she lives in Byera.

The magistrate issued the summons for the woman, who is said to live in Byera and work in Kingstown, after hearing from her 19-year-old son, who struck his 16-year-old brother with a glass bottle in the head last week Monday.

Today (Monday), the defendant, Michael/Olan Lyscott pleaded guilty to a charge that on June 5, at Old Montrose, he unlawfully and maliciously wounded the 16-year-old.

Lyscott told the court that he and the 16-year-old got into an altercation because the younger youth failed to wake up their 7-year-old brother in time for him to travel to school in Byera.

Lyscott is at risk of going to prison as he is under a one-year bond, which expires on June 20, 2023.

The prosecutor, Station Sergeant of Police Renrick Cato, on hearing that the three youths live alone, and that the 7-year-old travels to Byera for school every day, asked that the mother be summoned to court.

According to the facts, read by Sergeant Atnel Ash, Lyscott and his 16-year-old brother live together but do not speak to each other because of a past altercation.

On June 5, about 8 a.m., the virtual complainant had just woken up when Lyscott began “harassing him” saying,”Mek you ain’t wake up your brother and carry him school”.

The 16-year-old said he did not know anything about that and went outside.

Shortly after, the virtual complainant went to get a shirt and Lyscott pushed him in his chest and picked up a piece of board from outside.

Lyscott approached the virtual complainant with the piece of board but his younger brother ignored him and walked away and went to the public road.

Lyscott then picked up a Hairoun bottle and threw it at his brother, hitting him on the left side of his head.

The virtual complainant noticed that his head was bleeding and went to the hospital for medical attention.

He reported the matter to the police and Lyscott was arrested. He gave a statement to police denying the allegation, but pleaded guilty in court.

Ash told the court that the virtual complainant, a Form 3 student, was not in court as he had exams.

In mitigation, Lyscott asked not to be sent to prison, saying that he has his little brother to watch over.

He told the court that he works as a conductor on a truck.

The chief magistrate asked Lyscott if he had given up on school since an incident involving a car that resulted in him being charged and spending some time in prison.

Lyscott said that he did not graduate from Buccament Bay Secondary School, which he was attending at the time, only getting to Form 3.

He said that he takes care of his 7-year-old brother, who is his mother’s child, but he does not know where the boy’s father is and their mother does not live with them.

“Where you think he should be?” Browne asked Lyscott, referring to the child.

“With her,” Lyscott said, referring to their mother.

“Ok.  Because you are going to have a little challenge,” Browne said and asked the defendant if he remembers being bonded on June 20, 2022 for one year for damaging the school shirt of a student from Lowmans Windward.

The chief magistrate reminded Lyscott that having breached the bond, he was expected to pay EC$2,500 forthwith in order to avoid immediate prison time.

“But the bond is up,” Lyscott responded.

The chief magistrate, however, informed him that the bond expires on June 20.

“I think the bond been up,” Lyscott said, and the chief magistrate told him that that is why he started to misbehave.

She told the defendant that if their mother is living in Byera, the 7-year-old child should be living there with her also.

“She should have this little one because you ain’t value school and this other one is fighting to keep his head above water,” Browne told the defendant.

Lyscott responded that his younger brother hardly attends school.

“What example did you set? You didn’t want school. You wanted to wash down cars,” Browne responded.

Lyscott told the court that his brother is in Grade 1, and the chief magistrate told him that is impossible as children enter kindergarten around age 5, and at age 7 would be at least in Grade 2.

“You not even interested or invested in knowing what class he is,” she said and asked Lyscott if he helps his brother with his school work.

The defendant, however, said that the child “comes down with two books” when he goes to school in Byera.

“So, you were waking him up from Montrose to go to Byera?”

Lyscott told the court that the child was transferred from a Kingstown school because of misbehaviour.

“He is going to school in Byera. Wouldn’t it make absolute sense for him to be in Byera with mommy? If he is starting to misbehave now and he is 7, it is what he has seen,” Browne said.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor noted that wounding carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison on conviction on indictment and seven years before a magistrate’s court.

“If the defendant can take a Hairoun bottle and fire it at his own blood –” Cato said, adding that according to the medical report, the virtual complainant was struck in the head.

“It is sad. The defendant is saying that he, the 16-year-old and a 7-year-old are living together. He goes fishing and leaves the other two. I don’t know how many rooms the house has, how they are sleeping,” Cato said.

He noted that the argument began over Lyscott telling the 16-year-old that he thought he would have awoken their 7-year-old brother to go to school.

“This is foolishness because the mother is living in Byera and this 7-year-old has to go to school there. I don’t know if it is van they are riding, or if he escorts the brother.”
The prosecutor acknowledged that Lyscott is on bond but asked that he be remanded in custody and his mother summoned to explain why the children were living together alone.

“Book bag in Byera; two books coming down,” Cato commented.

Asked about the whereabouts of the 7-year-old child, Lyscott told the court that he would have left for school already.

He said he usually takes his brother to the bus terminal at Little Tokyo around 7 a.m. and put him on a van to school.

But the chief magistrate pointed out that Lyscott does not know who is in the van.

“So many stops and people coming on and off. By the time he gets there he is tired, hungry, groggy,” she said.

“Anybody ever questioned this child about what is happening? Anybody could have interacted with this child improperly. People just want to see a vulnerable child.  Anybody ever wonder why he is lashing out in this way? That is why we have all these issues in society. It cannot continue so. No. You can’t do children these kinds of injustice,” the chief magistrate said.

Lyscott said that the child takes a van home in the afternoons.

But Cato noted that on afternoons many vans do not go to the bus terminal and would make a U-turn in the area of the Peace Memorial Hall.

Lyscott then told the court that his mother works in Kingstown.

The chief magistrate noted that the last time the youth was before the court his father had to be summoned because his mother couldn’t handle him.

Lyscott told the court that he did not want to go back to prison, saying that he had gone there because of the incident involving the car.

He said that the altercation with his younger brother “did not happen like that.

“Because he stab me already and he think he can stab me again,” he said.

Cato said it was important that the court hears from the children’s mother before passing sentence.