By Today Newspaper
GREAT BAY – It does not often happen that a defendant profusely thanks the prosecution and the court for a punishment, but Wednesday it did. Linden Gounga, accused of ill-treating a man with a Taser gun, possession of that weapon and another ill-treatment on a different date took the 80 hours of community service for his wrongdoings (with 40 hours suspended) in style. “It is very reasonable. I am happy with the demand and I am prepared to do the community service,” he said.
The 44-year-old defendant happened upon a fight at the cricket field near Cost-U-Less on February 6. According to Gounga, he saw a group of eleven people beat up a man, so he went there waving his Taser. Thereby, he “accidentally” hit one member of the group.
“I was robbed twice, that is why I bought the Taser,” he said apologetically. “I did not intend to use it.”
On May 24, he had an encounter with a man in the Emilio Wilson Park who was in the company of the defendant’s daughter. The girl said that her father had tried to rape her. During a scuffle, Gounga hit the other man in his face; he said that he had later apologized to the victim.
Prosecutor Gonda van der Wulp considered all charges proven and noted that the defendant does not have a lot of problems with using violence. Judge Maria Paulides later matched the prosecutor’s demand. “If you don’t do your community service you’ll have to go to jail for 20 days,” she warned.
