A Rockies man who slashed two of the tyres of a car that was parked outside his workplace in Kingstown has been ordered to pay compensation and undergo counselling for anger management.
Ronnie Williams, a 32-year-old store clerk, pleaded guilty at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court to a charge that on May 13, at Granby Street, Kingstown, without lawful excuse he damaged the left rear and front tyres of motor vehicle PV939, valued at EC$500, the property of Leroy Rock of Redemption Sharpes, intending to damage such property.
The facts of the case are that on May 13, around 11:30 a.m., Rock, 61, a retired public servant, parked his car, registration PV939, in a parking space outside of Home Collection Store No. 2 on Granby Street.
While Rock was parking, he was confronted by several of the store’s employees about the parking, but Rock noted that the area was not marked out for designated parking.
Rock left the area and returned sometime later.
When he was driving off, he heard an unfamiliar sound coming from the left side of his car.
He exited the vehicle and realised that the tyres on the left side of the vehicle had been slashed.
Rock reported the matter to the police. During his investigation, Detective Constable 1007 Pope retrieved surveillance footage, which showed Williams slashing the tyres.
Williams was arrested and gave a statement admitting to the offence.
In a caution statement, Williams told police that Rock had been warned more than once not to park in the area, as it was for the store’s customers.
“He came to the store and being baosty about parking there,” Williams said in the caution statement, adding that he had tolerated the “disrespect for some time”.
He said that slashing the tyres was “in retaliation for all the disrespect” from Rock.
In mitigation, Williams told Senior Magistrate Tammika McKenzie that he is “not a troublesome person.
“I don’t normally do these sorts of stuff.”
He, however, admitted, when the magistrate asked, that he had a criminal record.
Williams told the court that he and Rock had a back-and-forth on several occasions about the parking space.
“He was warned about not parking there,” Williams told the court, even as he admitted that the police had not assigned the parking space to the store.
“I kept telling him about the parking and he will be disrespectful to us, want to bring us down about working with the Syrians and picking sides with them. It is nothing like that. A work is a work. To me, a work is like a second home because I am there most of the day,” Williams told the court.
“If he comes and disrespects me, I would retaliate.”
However, the senior magistrate told Williams that he should retaliate by telling Rock about his job.
“I don’t want to be here. I am sad about the situation. But at the end of the day, I live by principle,” Williams said.
McKenzie quickly fired back that the principle that Williams has to live by is to pay for the tyres.
Williams said he had no problem with that, nor with the money the court might order him to pay to the government as punishment for his crime.
He said he works for EC$300 a week as a store clerk and EC$450 a night as a freelance kitchen attendant, but had not landed any such jobs for the previous three weeks.
Williams told the court that he has an 8-week-old child.
The court bonded Williams for nine months in the sum of EC$900. If he breaches the bond and cannot pay the sum, he would go to prison for four months.
Further, he was ordered to compensate Rock EC$500 by Aug. 13 or go to prison for nine months.
He told the court that he had between EC$100 and $150 on him. The senior magistrate ordered him to pay EC$100 forthwith or one month in prison.
The defendant told the court he had overacted but also said that Rock did not deal with him personally when he had gone to the store.
“If he had done so, it would have been a totally different situation,” Williams said.
On hearing this, the magistrate told Williams, “Walk good”, adding that he appeared to need to go to Marion House for anger management therapy and ordered him to do so.
An unwise power play. And a bizarre example of going above and beyond the call of duty with devotion and without regard for self. It still doesn’t sound as if Mr. Williams gets it.
In my opinion , sadly this county has become very very lawless and seems it’s from the fish head to its tail. May our Abba Father help us.
someone just ask me why when the man and woman ghost had injured Mr. J in his yard, why they were not sent to Marian House for anger management?? To me, it seems justice has two faces, one for family and friends and one for the poor.