GREAT BAY – The Court in First Instance sentenced on Wednesday a man to a 750-guilders fine for an act of public violence, committed on January 11, 2015 on the Illidge Road.
Esmerdo Miguel Pena Sanchez, 39, was having a fight with his wife and he was hitting her. A biker who passed by wanted to intervene to help the woman, but he ended up fighting a friend of the defendant, Julio M., whose summons was declared void and who will therefore go to court at a later date.
Sanchez told the court that he heard his friend call for help because the biker was choking him. He claimed that he intervened and attempted to separate the two.
The victim told police however that he had been assaulted by two men, while Sanchez in turn claimed that the man had been throwing rocks at him. Two witnesses confirmed that Sanchez had attacked the victim with a piece of wood.
The prosecutor noted that the defendant and his wife had been drinking heavily that day. “I doubt whether the defendant remembers all this as clearly as he says,” she observed. “He attacked his wife and the biker intervened to help the woman. I appreciate his actions tremendously.”
The prosecutor considered proven that Sanchez committed public violence and demanded a fine of a 1,000 guilders. Sanchez had declined earlier to pay 750 guilders for a conditional dismissal.
“Paying the fine is admitting guilt,” Sanchez’ attorney Cor Merx noted. “That is why he did not pay it. He should be acquitted because he separated the victim from Julio M. and afterwards the victim attacked him.”
The judge ruled that the witness-statements are supported on important details by other proof. “This was a drunken fight whereby the victim wanted to help the woman and the defendant wanted to stop him.” The judge gave Sanchez a 750-guilders fine.
