A Belle Vue man was left deflated after the court ruled that his claim for compensation over alleged flat tyres could not stand.
Brian Butler, 54, also of Belle Vue, failed to convince the Colonarie Magistrate’s Court that fellow villager Shanley Gumbs, 28, was liable for alleged damage to five tyres.
Butler was seeking compensation of EC$600, the total cost to replace the tyres.
He told the court that on July 24, 2023, about 9 p.m., he heard a hissing sound coming from his garage.
Butler said as he looked through one of his house windows and saw the defendant standing at the front of the garage with a knife in his hand.
Butler said that when he checked his garage the next day, the four tyres on his vehicle were flat.
He said the following week, he heard a hissing sound coming from his garage and when he looked, he saw the defendant walking out of the garage.
Butler said he went to the garage the next morning and realised that one of the tyres was flat.
He told the court that the defendant kept saying “he would continue to do it”.
During cross examination, the defendant told Butler, “… when you say you saw me, why you didn’t come out and say?”
Butler told the court that the defendant “is not a person to talk to”.
“You have proof that you saw me?” Gumbs asked the virtual complainant.
“I saw you with my both eyes,” Butler said.
In his evidence, Gumbs told the court, ” I don’t know nothing. I don’t damage no tyres for him. I not going to sit down here and take blame for his tyres and vehicle. I’m not that sort of young man.”
In his ruling, the magistrate, Bertie Pompey, told Butler, “Your claim can’t stand. You saw him, at least shout out!”
The accused may have been the culprit. However, the magistrate had no option but to dismiss the case. As a criminal case the hurdle to overcome is,” beyond a reasonable doubt” to secure a conviction. It left a reasonable doubt in the mind of a reasonable man as to whether the accused committed the crime.
If the accused is guilty as alleged, why he did not call to the accused? We are living in the age of technology. This is a feature of the age we are living in. Why didn’t he grab his cell phone and get some evidence of the person while he was committing the crime? We are living in contemporary times.
I believe that the magistrate had to choice but to say to the accused that he had no case to answer. Suspicion alone is not enough. There is also the, ” Turnbull criteria” which were not satisfied.