$20 000 to atone for shovel blow

His was a “senseless, unwarranted, cowardly act” and for it Errol Demond Jacobs, who disfigured his foreman’s face with a blow from a shovel, was ordered to compensate the man $20 000 when he reappeared in the No. 5 Supreme Court yesterday.

“For an offence to be committed unlawfully or maliciously it means that there is no defence such as self-defence or force used for preventing crime to property or another,” Justice Pamela Beckles told Jacobs yesterday.

“And after a careful and thorough analysis of the matter, this court finds that you, Errol Demond Jacobs, committed this senseless, unwarranted, cowardly act on the complainant, your foreman, who was only doing his job by ensuring that the scaffolding was erected correctly and for the safety of all,” the judge declared.

However, she noted that having heard the circumstances of the case, she had decided “to substitute a compensation order and that is only because that is the desire of the complainant”. (HLE)