Cop injured as teens brawl in wholesale shop

Senior Parish Judge Lori-Anne Cole-Montaque on Thursday blasted a 16-year-old schoolgirl and an 18-year-old who got into a fight inside a wholesale shop, which led to the injuring of a policeman.

"It looks like you are short of work. The devil really finds work for idle hands. I shouldn't have a 16-year-old and an 18-year-old before me for this," the senior parish judge said, the shock evident in her voice. It was shared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court that,, on February 14, the schoolgirl who is not named as she is under 16, and the 18-year-old Aliesha Findley, got into a fight at a wholesale. The police were called to mediate the situation. But, in trying to get the parties away from each other, one officer fell down a flight of stairs, causing bruising and swelling to his head and elbow. Findley and the 16-year-old were charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The complainant in the assault is the injured police officer.

"What was the fight about?" the curious judge asked.

According to the 16-year-old, she went into the wholesale shop and accidentally bounced into Findley, who was standing in the walkway, which resulted in a fight. But Findley shared a different recollection of the incident.

"She come to me wid hearsay, say me a call up her name. Me tell her say she fi come to me better and me walk off. When me walk off, she bounce up inna me and me turn round and the fight start," Findley explained. However, the senior jurist was not convinced that the young women's contention warranted a public fight.

"What was the calling up of name? I am curious. She say you were calling up her name, saying what? What she calling up your name with? What is the thing that got under your skin so much? What she call up your name say?" the judge probed further.

"That I am having sex with a man that I don't know," the 16-year-old said, followed by muffled whispers in the courtroom. But Findley denied saying anything about her co-defendant.

Judge Cole-Montaque then chastised the teen and Findley's behaviour, citing that they have cast embarrassment on themselves and their parents who accompanied them to court.

"In all of this, you have managed to injure an officer, who would've otherwise been investigating a murder, a firearm offence, and the officer fell down a flight of stairs. So he would've incurred medical expenses and I think it is appropriate if the officer were compensated," the judge said.

The young women are to return to court on April 18, when they are expected to be sentenced. Monies are also to be brought to begin compensation for the injured police officer, who was subpoenaed to attend court on the next occasion.