Chicken fight causes man to fork out 100s of dollars

A thirty-one-year-old man who was brought to court after he wounded a man during a fight over chicken, must now fork out hundreds of dollars to the state.

Fitz Hughes resident Roland “Red Rat” Baptiste was brought before Magistrate Bertie Pompey this Tuesday, almost a month after the April 19 incident that landed him two charges.

On the date in question, the complainant in the matter, 29-year-old Conroy Francois, was sitting eating chicken in a shop, when Baptiste, who knows Francois well, came onto the scene and, sitting near him, declared, “Man greedy because man see me here and nah give me no chicken.”

“Just like how I could work for money to buy chicken, you could do the same,” Francois replied.

This started an argument, during which Francois got up to walk away. Baptiste apparently followed him, and poked him in his face, and the two men scuffled.

Afterwards, Baptiste returned to the scene armed with a cutlass, and seeing him, Francois picked up a stone. However, Baptiste’s weapon of choice was not the cutlass, and he picked up a bottle, and threw it at Francois. It made contact with Francois’ face, who turned and ran.

He was followed by Baptiste, and when Baptiste caught up with him, Francois felt that he was struck on the left side of his back. Turning, Francois said he saw a scissors lying in the road.

Finally, he ran into someone’s porch for protection, and assistance. He was taken to the Chateaubelair hospital.

Baptiste told Pompey on Tuesday that he inflicted the injuries with the bottle, and that he didn’t use the scissors.

The magistrate told the defendant that the only mitigating feature in the case was that he had pleaded guilty at the earliest convenience.

“I’m not seeing any more mitigating feature, I’m just seeing aggravation,” he stated.

He noted that Baptiste was unprovoked, and that it was he who had provoked the “whole issue.”

“You left the scene, you had the time to cool down, but you returned armed with a cutlass,” he continued. What’s more, he chased him down in order to inflict a second wound, the magistrate concluded.

Pompey told the 31-year-old that he “truly” deserved to be sent to prison.

He asked Baptiste about his employment, to which he answered that he was a labourer who worked with a private contractor in Chateaubelair.

For the offence of unlawful and malicious wounding of Francois, Baptiste was fined $600, with $300 to be paid forthwith, or he would spend three months in prison. The remaining $300 was ordered to paid in two weeks, or he would spend three months.

For the second charge of having in his possession an offensive weapon, to wit a cutlass, in a public place, namely the public road, without lawful excuse, he must pay $200, or a two month prison term with take effect.