Tour guide released on sentence served, placed on $1,500 bond

Tour guide St Clair Badenock did not have to serve any further jail time, after pleading guilty to assaulting and threatening to kill curator of the Botanic Gardens Gordon Shallow and his family.{{more}}

Following his guilty plea at the Serious Offences Court on Tuesday, Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne-Matthias said no further jail time would be warranted for Badenock, because he had been on remand since November 2013 and that would be considered as his sentence served.

Browne-Matthias also placed Badenock on a $1,500 bond for one year. In default, he will spend one year in prison.

According to the facts, on November 15, 2013, Shallow was in his office, on duty at the Gardens, when he received a telephone call stating that Badenock was on the compound behaving in an aggressive manner and using indecent language.

Shallow then proceeded to the area of complaint and upon reaching a gazebo, he saw Badenock leave where he was among other tour guides and proceed to a bridge.

On reaching about three to four feet away from Badenock, Shallow told him that he wasn’t allowed on the compound. Badenock refused to leave and Shallow then sought the assistance of a tourist police officer there.

Badenock then moved from the bridge and pushed Shallow on his right shoulder, causing him to almost fall over the bridge.

That was when Badenock threatened Shallow by saying, “I will kill you, your wife and your daughter. You’re a dead man walking!”

The 53-year-old Sion Hill resident told the court that Shallow told him that he was not supposed to be in the Gardens anymore because of an issue with a T-shirt.

“I was only going to hold on to him to ask him for another chance. I ain’t go say assault him,” Badenock said.

The chief magistrate said she doesn’t think people realize how wonderful tourism could be.

“We have done things too willy-nilly in SVG. We have to do things properly. We have some of the most beautiful sites here,” Browne-Matthias said.(KW)