Mother reduced to tears as she pleads her son’s case

A mother was reduced to tears last week, as she ended up pleading in court for her 29-year-old son who she reported to the police.

At first Zimroy Joseph was charged with, without lawful excuse, damaging his mother’s Digicel cell phone valued EC$150, as well as with having in his possession in a public place an offensive weapon, to wit a knife.

He was also accused of a theft matter, for which the complainant was not his mother.

The defendant entered a ‘Not Guilty’ plea at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court for possessing an offensive weapon in a public place, as well as for the theft charge.

Therefore, innocent until proven guilty, bail was open to him to await trial. However, in order to secure bail, the Sion Hill resident needed a surety to sign for him, and the person that he could think of was none other than his mother, Sharon Joseph.

His mother was called into the courtroom and she explained that her son has a drinking problem. She said this was unfortunate because her son has small children and financial responsibilities, as she cried. She confessed that she wanted him to receive counselling.

Following some statements from the mother, the prosecution reviewed the facts related to the charge of possession of an offensive weapon, and decided to withdraw this charge against Joseph.

However, they accepted his guilty plea for damaging his mother’s phone on May 19, at Little Tokyo.

During a conversation between Zimroy and his mother, he got upset, and picked up his mother’s phone, before smashing it on the ground and causing it to break into pieces.

Zimroy, who works as a watchman with the Kingstown Town Board told Senior Magistrate Rickie Burnett that he has two children, a three year old, and a four month old.

The magistrate told the defendant that his mother did not report him because she wanted to but because she was fed up with him.

Nonetheless, the mother still interjected for her son, assuring the magistrate that he was “alright” but that he had been drinking rum. She disclosed that this would cause her to beat him and “real bad too”.

Although not agreeing with “real bad”, the magistrate commented that he loved to hear that.

Turning to Zimroy, he told him that he had made his mother cry in court, and that he was not to put his mother through that pain.

The mother continued to cry and plead for her son. When asked, she said she did not want compensation for her phone but had wanted the court to talk to him.

Burnett said that he would discipline Zimroy how he wanted, and that she may not like it, as he has little or no tolerance for that kind of conduct.

Ultimately, Zimroy was placed on a bond for one year in the sum of $1000, which if breached will require that he pay $1000 forthwith, or spend three months in prison.

His mother ended up bailing her son for the separate theft charge. She continued telling the magistrate that when her son drinks it’s like “the devil come out the earth.”