Cutlass attacks land Campden Park men in Court

Two Campden Park men who allegedly used cutlasses against one another will be forced to use the blade of the law instead, as the matter goes through the courts.

Alpheus Stevenson of Campden Park was charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on Deon Baptiste of Campden Park when he appeared before the Serious Offences Court last Monday. The wounds he is said to have inflicted include severing one of Baptiste’s hands, and chopping his back, in a wound that revealed the intestines.

Stevenson and Baptiste are apparently known to each other, and when the scarring on the accused’s head and jaw were noticed, the police indicated that it is apparently from a previous altercation between the two.

When the previous altercation had allegedly occurred, Stevenson had been given injury forms to take to the doctor.

Stevenson provided no excuse for not following through with his report, saying that the injury form remained in his bag when he went to see the doctor at the hospital.

“The situation could have been a whole different situation,” Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne-Matthias told the accused.

“That kinda scarring which you have in your head, that’s no joke. You’re lucky to be alive,” she continued.

She told the accused that he should try and get the forms filled out, “so the affair is not one-sided.”

Senior Prosecutor Adolphus Delplesche had objected to bail because the condition of Baptiste is said to be severe, and that he was supposed to undergo surgery last week.

The exact time of the surgery could not be given, as Baptiste’s condition had to be stable for surgery, but he had apparently “not been right” since the incident.

The chief magistrate decided to deny bail to Stevenson, due to the condition of the complainant. She noted that the injuries that Stevenson received to his head would not be discounted, “but I mean you recovered so much that you’re here in a different capacity.”

Bail review ended swiftly last Friday, with the prosecutor stating that he was not going to object to bail any further, and that Baptiste was out of the hospital.

Five thousand dollars was the amount given for bail, on the condition that the accused report to the Questelles police station every Monday. No contact with the complainant was also ordered.
The process was smooth sailing for Stevenson whose surety, a co-worker was accepted quickly, and the two left shortly afterwards.

The preliminary inquiry is set to begin on December 10.