By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
A 36-year-old woman who punched her former boyfriend’s lover in the face earlier this month was ordered on Friday to complete 150 hours of community service.
Police arrested Romona Newbold after she assaulted the woman on August 20 on seeing her in the car with her now former boyfriend and father of her nine-month-old child.
Newbold, who is also pregnant with her former boyfriend’s baby, told the court the incident happened after she approached her child’s father about not answering her calls.
She claimed she was calling him multiple times on the day in question because their child was sick.
However, while the two were speaking, a lady who was in the car with him got out and “brushed” her and then assaulted her.
As a result, Newbold said she punched her in the face in self-defence.
Newbold also claimed that she told officers of the woman’s attack, but when the prosecutor checked the police report in court, he didn’t find that to be the case.
Still, the accused maintained that the woman assaulted her first.
When asked if she and her child’s father were still in a relationship, “no“ was her reply.
Magistrate Kendra Kelly ordered the accused to complete 150 hours of community service. Upon completion, she would be granted an absolute discharge.
Magistrate Kelly also told Newbold to learn from her past mistakes and added that it would be in her best interest to stay away from her former boyfriend.
She further advised the accused to deal with her children herself or put the man in court for child support.
“Don’t chase a man,” she said. “The worst thing to do is go looking for him when he’s not answering your calls.”
To which the accused later said: “I feel so stupid after all of this.”
In another case before Magistrate Kelly, a woman dropped an assault complaint against her boyfriend, Gavargo Saunders.
Police arrested the 29-year-old after the woman alleged that he had assaulted her at their home on August 9.
Magistrate Kelly asked the woman why she had made the complaint. Her reply was that she had done so out of anger.
The woman said the two were involved in a heated argument that day when her boyfriend held her down in the chair because she claimed he didn’t want her to leave the house.
“I wanted to come outside, but he didn’t let me out,” she said, adding that he didn’t hit her.
Magistrate Kelly said that she had got the impression that some information was being withheld or that she “frivolously” called the police.
The magistrate then asked, “Are you afraid of Mr Saunders?”
“No“ was the woman reply adding that she was withdrawing the complaint of her own free will.
Crown prosecutor, Sgt Vernon Pyfrom then asked the court to make an example out of her for wasting officers’ time, explaining that there were too many cases of people calling police “whenever they feel like.”
Magistrate Kelly then chastised the woman, saying it didn’t appear that she was serious when making the complaint.
“When you make a complaint to the police, that’s a serious matter,” she said.
“You cannot say… that when I’m angry with him, I’m going to call the police because he could’ve been going to jail for a matter that could’ve been resolved. If a relationship isn’t working, just leave.”
The magistrate then told her that she should’ve been fined but said she decided against it out of mercy.
“Don’t let it happen again,” she added.
As a result, Saunders was discharged.
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