RAYMOND Azeez, 26, was yesterday reprimanded and discharged after he pleaded guilty to unlawful assault causing actual bodily harm. But Magistrate Allan Wilson also put him on a bond to keep the peace for 12 weeks, after he admitted that, on Wednesday, March 23, at the Night Shelter in Arapaima Street, East La Penitence, Georgetown, he unlawfully assaulted Radesh Rampersaud.
Police Corporal Seon Blackman, prosecuting, said both the defendant and the virtual complainant (VC) are inmates of the shelter but not on speaking terms.
The prosecutor said the defendant was smoking a whitish substance suspected to be cocaine and lashed the VC with a bat on the face, resulting in a swelling of his left eye.
However, the defendant claimed he was sitting with three other inmates and conversing about cricket when Rampersaud, who was under the influence of alcohol, accused them of talking about him.
Both men ended up abusing each other about their mother and, during an ensuing scuffle, Azeez hit Rampersaud and walked away, the court was told.