— Victim now suffering from hearing impairment

BUSINESSMAN Safraz Matadial of Corentyne Berbice is contemplating legal action against his personal trainer Radley King, who on June 27, 2018 slapped him to the left ear and verbally abused him during a gym session at Port Mourant, Corentyne Berbice.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle on Thursday, Safraz said that he showed up for gym practice on the day in question, where his personal trainer quizzed him in front of other students about his lax sit-ups which are not being done within the required timeframe in order to gain results.

Safraz said that he tried explaining to King, his trainer, that when he is at home he has challenges doing the specific type of exercise but he still tries. He also said that given his business which he operates at his home, there is hardly any time for him to sit for long so that he can focus on the regimen so he tries to double up whenever he arrives at gym.

The man said he has been a member of the gym “Fit for a King” for the past two years. And during that period, while he did witness a few encounters between King and other gym members, he generally believes that the man is a nice person. He spoke of King approaching him and apologising to him after the incident but according to Safraz, he still has to take legal action against King given his present discomfort with the ear and partial hearing loss.

In his interview with this publication in Berbice on Thursday, Safraz said that King slapped him and he slapped him back and a scuffle ensued and after that he made a report to the police station and then proceeded to seek medical attention.

“My personal trainer Mr. Radley King told me that I need to work on my sit ups and that four sit ups in two minutes was unacceptable, I tried to explain to him what my challenges were and then I turned away because he was not trying to understand what I was saying to him… He then cursed me…then he got up and slap me across the left ear and I immediately reacted by slapping him back and then a scuffle ensued” Safraz told this publication.

After that the matter was reported to the police station at Whim and the police took a brief report from Safraz and then issued him with a medical.
It was found that the man developed fluid around the inner part of his ear. He was advised to seek further medical attention at the New Amsterdam Hospital where it was determined that he had loss 85 percent of his hearing in the left ear.

Doctors there further advised the now partially deaf man to seek advanced medical treatment in Georgetown as he is required to undergo some tests and possibly an operation to see the extent of the damage done to the ear as a result of the slap.

Safraz said he is now in contact with his lawyer and they are going to be moving to the courts to pursue private legal proceedings against the gym instructor.