Mission

Non-Profit, 501(c)(3)

Mission:
The Dragonfly Centre is committed to the elimination of domestic violence against women and their children by providing victim friendly services that promotes the empowerment of survivors; through advocacy, public awareness and education and community based initiatives.

Vision: The Dragonfly Centre envisions a world free of violence against women and their children and social justice for all. We are founded on the vision and belief that every person has the right to live in a safe environment free from violence and the fear of violence and strive to work collaboratively with the community to provide victim friendly services to support domestic violence victims, survivors to the stage of thriving.

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Friday, January 27, 2012

A Terrifing Story of Domestic Violence in Trinidad and Tobago


Kaieteur News

A terrifying story of domestic violence in Trinidad and Tobago

January 26, 2011 | By | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Stella Says 
The fight against domestic violence is a global struggle – and that includes other parts of the Caribbean. I want to share a story from Trinidad and Tobago that is particularly disturbing in both brutality and the continued terrorism faced by the victim, even after she left her abuser and as she is attempting to build a new life for herself.

Shaliza Ali’s first violent encounter with her abuser came very early in the relationship when he tried to prevent her from coming to Guyana for a singing engagement. The physical altercation terrified her, but her situation left her vulnerable and she returned to him. The physical, verbal and psychological abuse continued.

In her own words from a written statement that will be read today in Trinidad and Tobago, Shaliza said, “I endured several episodes of physical violence. He would often enter into severe mood swings and abuse my teenage daughter and myself. On many occasions, my father would have to rescue me as I would either be thrown out of the house, or left stranded in the middle of the highway. My father counted 27 individual times he had to intervene and rescue me from his violent outburst. I faced several embarrassing public outbursts and humiliation in front of employees, clients, business associates and my lawyer and his staff.”

(Shaliza honoured me with an early copy of her statement to write this column.)

Shaliza was feeling broken and fearful. She said, “The final straw came when he placed his licenced firearm to my head and thumped me in my abdomen; I was recovering from surgery at the time. He locked me inside of the house leaving me trapped inside, wounded and suffering from internal bleeding.”
Shaliza discovered as she was leaving the relationship that the abuser had already transferred their business funds out of their joint account and into his account. The statement said, “I left penniless and flat broke. I walked out on assets which included lands, a fleet of high profile vehicles, a well furnished house in Lange Park, several heavy duty tractors, trucks, excavators, rollers and other earth works equipment.

I left all jewellery, books and personal belongings and walked away with the bare necessities.”
Shaliza went into hiding for a period of time, but when she finally re-emerged, the abuse continued. Her abuser continued to stalk her and make violent confrontations – even in public. Law enforcement offered little or no protection.

She also discovered her abuser was not honouring the contractual obligations with their business clients. “I left all assets to him and I expected that he would have done the honourable thing and complete infrastructure works to the outstanding land development projects,” Shaliza said.
She was wrong and yet when lawsuits were made, only she was held accountable. “I did not enjoy the proceeds of these sales nor did I use any of the funds, they were converted and invested by my abuser and he knows what he did with the funds.”

Even without enjoying the proceeds of the sales, Shaliza maintained, “Nevertheless, I … state that I do not intend to leave my obligations unattended. I have been struggling to get back up on my feet financially and I have promised as soon as [I can] I will honour the commitments to those clients who invested in developments where I was the recipient of proceeds from sales.”

However, her abuser continues to terrorise her and attempts to sabotage all her business ventures. Shaliza’s statement said this concerning a restaurant she started, “On two or more occasions, he placed a chain on the two aluminum doors of the restaurant, claiming that we were not opening the restaurant today unless I returned to him. During preparations for a Valentine Day dinner, he barged into the restaurant and started shouting obscenities at my employees. He took a chafing pan filled with hot water and threw it at my daughter. An employee had to restrain him as he brandished his firearm in the air.”
Shaliza walked away from the restaurant in fear of her life and started working in real estate again, but according to her statement, “This has been an uphill struggle, as I have had to face and endure his continuous stalking and predatory behaviour. He has contacted several of my new clients and discouraged them from doing any business with me, making up stories to produce doubt in the minds of several customers.”

However, Shaliza is a strong woman. She has written a book about her experience with domestic violence entitled, “Built by Brokenness.” It is an inspirational journey that would be particularly encouraging for Christian women who need to escape their abuse, as Shaliza uses biblical scripture throughout the book during each phase of her walk through and out of the abuse. I hope Austin’s Bookstore can get some copies.
In spite of Shaliza’s strength, or perhaps because of it, her abuser will not relent. He has used his connection with a Trinidad and Tobago television host to wage a smear campaign against Shaliza and call for a ban on her book from all the bookstores in her country.

The ironic part of this story is that the “offensive” material being used against her is that she did not live up to the contractual business obligations – the very same ventures for which her abuser took the money and never completed. Not a word is being said about his contractual responsibilities though.
Her abuser has done anything and everything to make her life a living hell. But Shaliza is a fighter and today she will be holding a press conference to respond to the ban on her book and the accusations made against her. Will Trinidad and Tobago continue to allow her abuser to inflict harm on Shaliza or will they finally hold him responsible for his abuse? Time will tell…

Source: http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2011/01/26/a-terrifying-story-of-domestic-violence-in-trinidad-and-tobago/

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Myths About Family Violence

  • Myth:Family violence is rare...
    • Although statistics on family violence are not precise, it's clear that millions of children, women and even men are abused physically by family members and other intimates.
    • Myth:Family violence is confined to the lower classes...
    • Reports from police records, victim services, and academic studies show domestic violence exists equally in every socioeconomic group, regardless of race or culture.
    • Myth:Alcohol and drug abuse are the real causes of violence in the home...
    • Because many male batterers also abuse alcohol and other drugs, it's easy to conclude that these substances may cause domestic violence. They apparently do increase the lethality of the violence, but they also offer the batterer another excuse to evade responsibility for his behavior. The abusive man -- and men are the abusers in the overwhelming majority of domestic violence incidents -- typically controls his actions, even when drunk or high, by choosing a time and place for the assaults to take place in private and go undetected. In addition, successful completion of a drug treatment program does not guarantee an end to battering. Domestic violence and substance abuse are two different problems that should be treated separately.
    • Myth:Battered wives like being hit, otherwise they would leave...
    • The most common response to battering-- "Why doesn't she just leave?"-- ignores economic and social realities facing many women. Shelters are often full, and family, friends, and the workplace are frequently less than fully supportive. Faced with rent and utility deposits, day care, health insurance, and other basic expenses, the woman may feel that she cannot support herself and her children. Moreover, in some instances, the woman may be increasing the chance of physical harm or even death if she leaves an abusive spouse.

Adapted from:: "Preventing Violence Against Women, Not Just a Women's Issue," National Crime Prevention Council, 1995.
 Source: http://www.dm.usda.gov/shmd/aware.htm

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Sex-filled love story that ended in murder

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Sex-filled love story that ended in murder
By JADA LOUTOO Wednesday, January 11 2012
MURDER VICTIM: Georgiana Sookoo...
 
 
 
MURDER VICTIM: Georgiana Sookoo...
HER FREQUENT taunts about her infidelity with a former lover, and his inability to satisfy her sexually, may have led Vishwanath Sharma to chop his wife of eight months ten times, leading to her eventual death.
“I lost control, or lost consciousness, or something,” Sharma said as he defended himself at his trial where he is charged with the murder of his wife, Georgiana Sookoo on October 24, 2003 at Mc Shine Street, Sangre Grande.

Sharma, 49, is before Justice Hayden St Clair Douglas in the Port-of-Spain Sixth Criminal Court.

Sookoo was chopped about the face and body. She died at hospital.

In an emotional defence, Sharma said he regretted his actions, and preferred that his wife was still alive, even if she did not want him anymore.

Sharma’s evidence was a “story of love,” his attorney Daniel Khan told the jury in a rare opening address.

Khan said his client was not denying he killed Sookoo. Khan said he chose the uncustomary move to address the jury because he did not want to confuse them since his client had pleaded not guilty to his wife’s murder.

“I have not challenged the evidence of the prosecution. You will hear that he killed the deceased. You will hear of the events leading up to the incident. His is a story of love; love gone wrong.”

During his testimony Sharma repeatedly said he loved Sookoo. “I love her very much. I wanted things to work out for us,” he said.

Describing the incident which ended the life of his wife as a travesty, Sharma said he hated himself for it.

“I really loved her. I know I am not no saint, neither that it is for me to say I haven’t done anything wrong but there are things that happen to me, and my wife. I took responsibility for it because I loved her very much. Even if she didn’t want to live with me any more. I still prefer that she be alive, and unharmed,” he said in tears.

Sharma admitted to having made several mistakes in his life, including being a womaniser, selling drugs, and using alcohol.

He said he was scared, and believed he lost control because of what she told him of her sexual encounters with a former lover.

“I believed when she said those things to me, I lost control. I must have chopped her,” he said.

Sharma testified that it was only after his wife’s screams he looked at her, he saw her damaged face. He panicked and ran.

According to the autopsy report, the left side of Sookoo’s face was partially torn off during the frenzied attack. She was also chopped on the head with the cutlass which cut through the outer bone of her skull, her arm, hand, leg and foot.

In explicit details, Sharma spoke of Sookoo’s repeated taunts of his inability to satisfy her sexually, and the description of her relationship with the man she was having an affair with, including the fact she was having anal sex with her lover.

He said there were times when she would say she loved him, and times when she said she did not. “Sometimes she would threaten me,” he said. As he began his evidence, Sharma said he had moved to Canada in 1988. He lived in Canada with his wife Cynthia, and their four children. He moved to Canada to seek a better life, but was deported in 2000 after he was convicted for trafficking cocaine.

His wife and children remained in Canada, and on the same day he arrived in Trinidad, he saw Sookoo — whom he had known since his childhood days, and had a previous relationship with her, prior to going to Canada — on the side of the road. He stopped the taxi and they spoke. The next evening, he went to Sookoo’s home at Mc Shine Street. They spoke and made love, he said. He moved in with Sookoo and they began living together. He said leaving his wife and children in Canada left him sad and frustrated, but reconciling with Sookoo, made him comfortable.

“We started getting closer and loving each other,” he said. Sharma said they became so close people would refer to them as “love birds” and commented that they looked cute with each other.

The atmosphere of love did not last. Things started to change about 2002, after Sookoo found a letter from his wife, Cynthia. Sharma said he asked Sookoo if she had gone crazy because of the way she was acting.

She chopped him on the left hand, and he had to undergo surgery, he claimed.

After that, Sharma said things returned to “normal” until they fought again and Sookoo asked him to leave.

He began renting in St Augustine until one day when she visited him at his workplace. They had lunch and spent the afternoon and night together in his apartment. They began seeing each other regularly, and he moved back in with her after she asked him to. Again things returned to normal, he said, and Sookoo told him she wanted to get married.

“I told her that’s fine with me,” he said, The couple married on February 27, 2003. “I loved my wife;. I was in love with her.”

Some three months later, Sharma said he returned home and found one of her friends inside. The friend was Sookoo’s former lover Marvin Wilson, Sharma claimed.

“I asked what was going on. She told me this is her home, and she could do as she pleased.”

“I was sad and very disappointed, because it wasn’t long ago we got married.” After Wilson left, things again returned to normal, Sharma testified. “But it did not remain so.”

A few weeks later, he returned home again to find Wilson and two other friends in the kitchen drinking. They began arguing and he said Sookoo flung a knife at him. He received stitches and “things went back to normal, for a few days.”

He recounted an incident at a wedding of a relative where he said Sookoo spent the night dancing with Wilson. He called her aside and spoke to her about it, because he was uncomfortable with it. When the couple returned home, he said she was sitting spread-eagled on the sofa in the kitchen. When he told her he never had sex with someone as beautiful as she looked in the dress she wore, she threw an iron at him as he was about to kiss her.

He received a cut to his head. Yet again Sharma said things returned to normal and then in August or September, Wilson began visiting more regularly.

“Things get uptight with me and my wife. We were quarrelling every day, or almost every day over the affair she was having with Wilson,” he said. It was then she began taunting him about her sexual relations with Wilson.

“Things were getting rougher daily,” he admitted. ‘She’d always say things to hurt me.” He said when he questioned her about her overnight stays, it would cause more argument.

“I was depressed, and I know it seems strange, but I loved my wife and was trying to make things work out,” he said.

The couple again had another physical altercation after Wilson came to the house early in the morning, and Sookoo went out to speak with him in a sheer nightdress. He said he told her to change, because she was almost naked and she picked up a bucket and swung it at him.

Sometime later, the couple again got into a heated argument after he asked her why her hair was falling off. He claimed Sookoo again explicitly told him of her sexual exploits with Wilson.

Two days before the attack, Sharma said he was chased by Wilson, Sookoo, her son and some of Wilson’s friends as he was returning home, and was forced to run to a neighbour’s house to call the police. After the police spoke to the couple, Sharma said he took some clothes, and left.

He returned to the house on October 23. At first, Sharma said Sookoo was sleeping, but then he said he made a mistake, and that she was not at home. He said he returned to the house at about 1 am and went to her bedroom. She awoke and asked him what he was doing there. “I said you are my wife, and I want to talk,” he said.

They went to the kitchen, Sookoo, he said, pulled a cutlass and told him her children did not want him coming there. He disarmed her, and they went outside and began talking about reconciling. He said they began hugging and kissing for a brief moment until she felt the cutlass under his shirt. He said the cutlass was the same one he took from her, and explained to her that he had it for his protection in the event the guys rushed him.

He said his wife accused him of wanting to make problems for her because she was with Wilson. The two began fighting for the cutlass when he said he tugged it away and she fell to the ground screaming. “At that time I felt the reason why she was doing this to me, was to drive me crazy, or put me in a place to get hurt. I was scared,” he said.

Source: http://www.newsday.co.tt/crime_and_court/0,153556.html

He hid the cutlass behind a wall
Thursday, January 12 2012
Sharma then admitted he may have chopped his wife and heard her screams, and that of their neighbour Sherifa Mohammed. He said he ran to the mosque on Coalmine Road, crossed come bushes, and went to the river where he washed his clothes.
He then went behind the mosque where he showered, and hid the cutlass behind a wall.

Sharma then went to his mother’s house where he stayed.

That same morning the police took him in for questioning, and he handed over the clothing he was wearing. and took them to where he hid the cutlass. In cross examination, Sharma admitted he gave a confession statement to the police.

Sharma said he had no medical certificates to verify the injuries he received as a result of the physical attacks by his wife, nor did he report them to the police.

He said he knew Sookoo and Wilson were involved in a relationship before, as well as admitting to living with Sookoo while still being married to Cynthia. He said he was never violent towards Sookoo.

The trial continues today when prosecution Jennifer Martin resumes her cross examination.

Source: http://www.newsday.co.tt/crime_and_court/0,153559.html 

Friday, January 13, 2012

Murder accused: I chopped her in fit of rage

Murder accused: I chopped her in fit of rage

...Court hears of physical abuses during arguments
 
Published:  Thursday, January 12, 2012
A 49-year-old man, charged with chopping his common-law wife, yesterday admitted to doing so in a fit of rage after an argument about her infidelity. The accused, Vishwandath Sharma, made the disclosure while testifying in his trial yesterday before Justice Hayden St Clair-Douglas in the Port-of-Spain Sixth Assizes. Sharma is before a 12-member jury for the murder of his wife, Georgina Sookoo, 40, on October 24, 2003. Sharma, who burst into tears several times while testifying, told the court he had confronted his wife on several occasions before her death about an extra-marital relationship but was physically abused by her each time.

“I loved her very much. I wish the whole incident did not happen... I just wish she was alive today,” Sharma said. During his three-hour testimony, Sharma claimed he was stabbed, chopped and hit over the head with objects, including a heating iron, by his wife during heated arguments. However, when asked in cross-examination Sharma could not provide any documents to prove his claims of abuse at the hands of his wife. He denied ever retaliating during the turbulent relationship besides on the night of her murder and claimed she constantly ridiculed him about his sexual inadequacies.

While being led through his testimony by his attorney, Daniel Khan, Sharma admitted to returning to her home on the date of her murder in an attempt to reconcile. Sharma said: “She tell me I just trying to make trouble for she and her lover. “I had the cutlass by my waist and she grab it and try to pull it away. “I grab the cutlass from her and she fell to the ground. I don’t know if it was the comments she was making or she screaming that make me chop her,” Sharma admitted. He said he fled the scene when he realised what he had done.

Sookoo, who was chopped across the face, later died while receiving treatment at hospital. “I have made mistakes, used and sold drugs in the past but I never meant to hurt or murder anybody,” Sharma said. Although Sharma claimed Sookoo was having an affair, he admitted he never actually caught her in the act. He also admitted he was deported from Canada in 2000 for drug-trafficking offences. He also said he had a wife and four children in Canada before being deported.

When arrested after Sookoo’s murder, Sharma provided police with the murder weapon which he stored at a mosque near where the attack occurred. After providing a witness statement where he admitted to chopping Sookoo, he was charged by ASP Neville Sankar of the Sangre Grande CID. In his signed witness statement after the incident, Sharma told police:  “I done do the job, now I have to pay the price.” Sharma is also being represented by Shoba Nandalal, while the matter is being prosecuted by Jennifer Martin. The matter continues today.

Source:  http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/thursday-january-12-2012/murder-accused-i-chopped-her-fit-rage

Friday, January 6, 2012

Ex-wife: He used to beat me all the time

Ex-wife: He used to beat me all the time

'Dragged naked in the road...'

By Nikita Braxton-Benjamin nikita.braxton@trinidadexpress.com

THE EX-WIFE of the man charged with the killing of four-year-old Amy Annamanthudo yesterday testified of the abuse she faced at the hand of the murder accused during their 15-year relationship.
Lou-Ann Davis yesterday spoke of being beaten with a piece of wood and cutlass and dragged naked in the road after jumping through a window to escape from King.
"I divorced him in 2006 because he was abusive to me while I was married to him...He used to beat me all the time," Davis said, as she gave evidence in the San Fernando First Criminal Court before Justice Anthony Carmona.
King is charged with beating his step daughter to death on May 15, 2006.
Back in October, the State's main witness Andre Rocke testified that he peeped through a hole and saw King hitting the child 20 to 30 times as she hung by her hair at King's house.
Pathologist Hughvon Des Vignes gave evidence that Amy suffered lacerations, tears, bleeding scrapes and bruises to her brain, eye, neck, chest, shoulder, hand, heart, lungs, spleen, liver, adrenal gland, kidney, abdomen, pelvic area, upper, mid and lower back and bottom.
Yesterday, Davis spoke of an incident of abuse she suffered from King 10 years ago.
She said she had separated from him and was staying in one room at a house she rented from a man for whom she cooked and cleaned. The couple's daughters were staying at King's place as Davis said she had nowhere else for them to live. Davis and King had two daughters together; baby Amy was Davis' daughter and King's step-daughter.
Three days after Davis left King back in 2001, he came over to her one-room place.
"He told me the children were crying and told me if I could come up the road and talk to them."
Davis said she got ready and when she met King by the gate, he slapped her on the face.
She testified that he took her back upstairs, kicked down the front door and carried her in the room to pack her clothes.
"All that time in the room, he was beating me with a piece of wood. A two by four," Davis said.
She said while they headed back to his home, King threw away the piece of wood and had a knife in his hand.
"We walked back to where he lived, he locked the door behind me and told me he had a bottle of kerosene and a lighter by the stove," Davis said.
She told the court King threatened to burn her.
"He carried me in the bedroom and told me to take off all my clothes...He began to take off his clothes and while (he was) undressing, I jumped through the window, naked. I twisted my right ankle," Davis said.
"Marlon King came across by the neighbour with a cutlass in his hand. He grabbed me by my hair and I fell to the ground and he start dragging me (to his) home in the road. He hit me two lash with the cutlass in my belly," she said.
The mother of King's children said that men who were working across the road "picked up stones and pelt him to let me go."
She said she was released and neighbours gave her clothes and she went to the Marabella police station.
She testified that she spent two months in hospital following the attack.
Davis also yesterday recalled an incident in which she said King made her perform a sexual act on him after waking a one-year-old female from sleep to look on.
She said she separated from King back in 2001 and divorced him five years later.
Davis remarried in 2008.
She said after their separation, a private arrangement was made where King would keep his two daughters on weekends.
But she noticed different strangers at the house whenever she went to drop off the children. She asked King about this.
"He told me he would lend out the place to people when they came by him to have sex there...He told me when that happened he would carry the children by his father to spend time and then come back down the road. He said he would lend it out on weekends," Davis said.
She said she was uncomfortable with this but continued to take the children there to keep the peace with King.
"If I didn't carry the kids, he would come down by me and make a set of noise," she said.
The children are now teenagers.
Defence attorney El Farouk Hosein told Davis she was not telling the truth and she was never beaten by King.
"I live happy for two years with Marlon King and after that it was downhill," she told the court during cross examination.
The trial is expected to continue today where State attorney Mauriceia Joseph said she would close the prosecution's case.

Source: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Ex-wife__He_used_to_beat_me_all_the_time-136786793.html

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Hinduism rejects violence against women

Hinduism rejects violence against women

Published: 
Sunday, January 1, 2012
UN Women in the Caribbean recently funded a three-phase programme aimed at promoting the role of faith-based organisations in “increasing awareness to change attitudes and influence behaviour amongst people from all walks of life, as essential to preventing and ending violence against women.” The collaboration established a partnership between UN Women and the Hindu Women’s Organisation of T&T. One of the outcomes was the publication of a booklet entitled Hinduism—An Overview & Rejecting Violence Against Women.

While Pundit Bramdeo Maharaj, a former president of the Inter-Religious Organisation, presented the Hindu overview, Brenda Gopeesingh presented the position of the Hindu Women’s Organisation in addressing violence within the Hindu community. The booklet was launched at the newly refurbished Divali Nagar Auditorium during the “16 Days of Activism” which represented the period between November 25 and December 10—the days which the UN has reserved to vigorously address the Elimination of Violence Against Women since 2008. The audience included members of the Maha Sabha, Swaha, Saathi, the Raj Yoga Centre, the Satya Sai Organisation the Rape Crisis Centre, the Institute of Gender Studies, CAFRA and the Network of NGOs.­

In her introduction, the president of the HWO, Henny Charran observed that “gender-based violence is a societal scourge wrecking havoc on family life, communities, and countries—indeed on the entire planet.” She expressed the view that “we cannot stand by silently without making efforts to bring about change which will eliminate violence against women and pointed out that “there is no room within the Hindu tradition for violence.”

His Worship, the Mayor of Chaguanas Orlando Nagessar, who was the feature speaker at the function, identified Violence Against Women as “an issue which should be focused upon all the time and on an ongoing basis. He expressed the view that the core values of most religions are basically the same. He cited the Jerry Springer programme as one that incites violence and referred to the television as the “electronic baby sitter.”

Source: http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/sunday-january-1-2012/hinduism-rejects-violence-against-women

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Woman shot as new year breaks

Woman shot as new year breaks

Published:  Monday, January 2, 2012
 
A 26-year-old woman was shot yesterday while asleep at her house at Erica Street, Laventille. Megan McKenzie was up to late yesterday warded in stable condition at  Port-of-Spain General Hospital. A report said around 12.05 am,  McKenzie was in her bed when she heard several loud explosions. She soon felt a burning sensation in her left leg, police said. She was taken to the hospital she was treated and warded.

Detectives said McKenzie’s house was “full of bullets and probably was shot by someone who was ringing in the new year.” They said McKenzie was not a target in the shooting. Officers of the Besson Street Police Station are continuing investigations.

 Source: http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/monday-january-2-2012/woman-shot-new-year-breaks

Sunday, January 1, 2012

‘Plannass’ Attack - The Attack With the Side of a Cutlass (Machete)

Man to pay wife $1,500 for ‘plannass’ attack

Published:  Friday, December 30, 2011

A Pleasantville father openly declared his love for his wife yesterday after pleading guilty to plannassing her with a cutlass on Christmas Day as she held their two-month-old son. However, security guard Wendell Scipio, 27, was refused bail when he appeared before San Fernando Magistrate Annette Mc Kenzie charged with two counts of assaulting his infant son, Joshua. Scipio, who was moved to tears, begged for forgiveness from his wife, Whitney Edwards, after pleading guilty to two counts of assault against her.
 
“I am very sorry to my wife for what happened. I love she and I love my child. I does take care of my child. If she could forgive me for everything that happened,” he sobbed. Mc Kenzie had asked for a medical certificate to determine Edwards’ injuries in the attack.  However, court prosecutor, Ramdath Phillip, said Woman Police Constable Langley, who charged Scipio, was unable to secure one from the doctor who attended her. On Wednesday, Scipio appeared before the court charged with assaulting Edwards on December 25 at their home on Falcon Crest, Pleasantville. He also was charged with assault, occasioning actual bodily harm.
 
He was also charged with the same offences which were allegedly committed on the couple’s infant son. Scipio was ordered to pay $1,500 in compensation to Edwards or serve four weeks simple imprisonment. He was fined $2,000 or 45 days hard labour. He was reprimanded and discharged on the assault, occasioning actual bodily harm.
Scipio pleaded not guilty to the charges relating to his son. He will reappear in court on those charges on January 26. He was advised of his right to apply to a judge in chambers. The couple was at their home around 11 pm on Christmas night when an argument broke out, He took up a cutlass and beat Edwards. He also cuffed her while she held their son. She received abrasions while her son was allegedly hurt in the altercation.