Largo Heights resident bonded for one year

A security guard attached to the popular hair store Diamond Girl, told the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court on Monday that being sent to prison would not hinder his dreams.

Twenty-nine-year-old Kimran Barnum was in court, charged with criminal assault. The Largo Heights resident was found guilty of the offence, which was committed on September 15, 2017, in his community.

The court heard that on the date in question, Barnum was a tenant at an apartment owned by Largo Heights resident Alwyn Boyea.

Boyea and Barnum were involved in a long-standing dispute over the payment of utility bills and at around 7:50 p.m. on the date in question, Barnum was in the kitchen of his apartment when he was approached by Boyea in relation to an outstanding Central Water and Sewerage Authority (CWSA) bill.

Barnum told the court that he became annoyed because of the way Boyea spoke to him, so he left the kitchen and came outside waving a meat cleaver over his head, while telling Boyea, “this thing would chop you up, as a warning, if you don’t leave me alone”.

The accused said that he had no intention of harming his landlord, but wanted him to leave him alone, as Boyea had already given him notice to leave the apartment at the end of September 2017 and he had already paid his rent up to that time.

Barnum told the court that Boyea told him he would throw him out before the notice came into effect and he got annoyed. He said that all the tenants at the apartment, including Boyea, who lived there, would share the utility bills, but he did not know what his portion of the bill was, because no one had told him.

He said that the bills were usually split into five parts, as five tenants used the facility.

Boyea told the court that although Barnum paid his rent on time, he was always late with the utilities. He said when he saw the meat cleaver, he began trembling, as he was scared, so he left the premises and reported the matter to the police, which led to Barnum being charged. He said that he never told Barnum that he would make him leave before the notice took effect.

“He was angry… he had the thing and was less than two feet from me, I could feel his spit on my face,” Boyea, a 59-year-old taxi driver, told the court, adding, “he is a very violent man”.

After hearing the evidence of both parties and two witnesses, senior magistrate Rickie Burnett told Barnum that he believed the witnesses and as a result, he was finding him guilty of the offence. Barnum had told the court that he had a witness, but the young lady had not turned up to court, as the relationship they once had had come to an end recently.

When asked if he had anything to say, Barnum, the father of a five-year-old son, said that he did not and would respect any decision made by the court.

“So, if I send you to prison, you good with that?” asked Burnett; to which Barnum replied, “Prison won’t stop me going forward with my dreams”.

Barnum went on to say that he has written a book on rugby that is available on Amazon and is currently in the process of writing another book.

“I won’t send you to prison for this. I would give you a chance to redeem yourself,” Burnett told Barnum, before bonding him to keep the peace for one year, or in default pay EC$1,500, or spend three months in prison.

On leaving court, Barnum wanted to know “what was wrong” with the journalist taking his photo.