The Tribune

By FARRAH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN who punched his girlfriend after he thought he saw her flirting with a lesbian in a local bar was yesterday placed on probation for a year.

Leon Chase was arrested after he punched his girlfriend in her mouth at the Crib Bar on January 1.

He pleaded guilty to one count of assault during a hearing before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis.

The court was told Chase approached his girlfriend in the bar and asked her why she was there and what she was doing talking to a “sissy girl”. The prosecution said an argument followed and Chase ended up punching his girlfriend in her mouth.

After she filed an official complaint with police, the accused was arrested. In an interview with officers at the East Street South Police Station, he said his girlfriend had approached him that night and told him that the “sissy girl” liked her. Chase claimed when he left the bar and came back, he saw his girlfriend “up in the other woman’s face” so he approached her and punched her in her mouth.

During the hearing, Chase was represented by attorney Ian Cargill. He told the magistrate his client was sorry for his actions and only reacted in the “heat of the moment”. He also said Chase and the complainant lived together. He said the accused had already apologised to her.

As a result, Magistrate Rolle Davis placed Chase on probation for one year. He warned him if he failed to be of good behaviour during that time frame, he would be sentenced to nine months on remand.