The Tribune

By FARRAH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MARRIED father-of-three who beat up another man who told people he was a homosexual was put on six months probation yesterday.

Wilner Poliard, 31, appeared before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle-Davis after he was accused of punching a man in his mouth on November 4.

The prosecution said the complainant was at his residence having a conversation with one of his tenants when they decided to walk down the road to purchase some items. It was at that time that Poliard approached the man and confronted him to verify allegations of the complainant calling him a “sissy”. The court was told that the accused then punched the man in his mouth before hitting him in his head with a beer bottle, which caused him to bleed heavily. After the victim filed an official complaint with police, officers conducted a line up which allowed him to positively identify Poliard as his attacker.

During the hearing, Poliard pleaded guilty to one count of assault. He also told the magistrate he was married and had three children and insisted the entire incident was a “misunderstanding”.

In response, Magistrate Rolle Davis told the accused if he knew he was not a “sissy,” the man’s words should not have affected him and he should not have approached him at all.

As a result, he accepted Poliard’s guilty plea and placed him on six months’ probation. He warned him that if he failed to be of good behaviour during that time, he would be fined $150 or sentenced to 15 days behind bars.