Mahdia driver charged for assaulting ex-girlfriend

Joel Dear, a 46-year-old driver of 111 Miles Mahdia in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), was on Wednesday placed on $30,000 bail following his appearance before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty in her Georgetown court to answer two charges of assault and damage to property, allegedly committed on Jeanette James during a confrontation with the woman in Alexander Street Kitty, Georgetown.

The first charge alleges that on April 13, at Alexander Street Kitty, Dear unlawfully assaulted James. The second charge alleges that on the same date and at the same location, he maliciously damaged one Samsung cellular phone valued at $35,000, the personal property of James.
Dear pleaded not guilty to both offences; and when
Magistrate McGusty questioned him about his relationship with the virtual complainant, he replied that he knew James “by seeing her”, and claimed that they “were friends”.
Asked how long he had known her, Dear said it had been approximately nine months, and that they first became acquainted on a playground.
However, the police prosecutor detailed that Dear and James had in fact shared a domestic relationship, and had once resided together at the same address. The prosecutor also revealed that James had previously lived at Dear’s property in Mahdia.
After considering the matter, Magistrate McGusty placed Dear on $10,000 bail for the assault charge and $20,000 bail for the malicious damage to property charge, and adjourned the matters to May 14.