Man Ordered to Pay $10,000 or Face Prison for Attack Over Weed Wacker Sale

A man who chopped another several times about his head and left hand a year after a dispute over a weed wacker sale, has to pay a total of $10 000 in compensation over the next nine months or face two years in prison.

The sentence was handed down by Madam Justice Wanda Blair on Shem Yearwood, 32, of 1st Avenue Harmony Hall, St Michael when he appeared in Supreme Court No. 4A on Tuesday morning.

Yearwood had been charged with the unlawful wounding of Vincent Smith on June 12, 2013, with intent to maim, disfigure, or disable him, as well as unlawfully and maliciously wounding Vincent Smith. He pleaded guilty to the second charge.

In his statement, Smith outlined that a year prior to the incident, he had sold Yearwood a weed wacker for $400. Yearwood paid him $350 at the time of the sale. At their next meeting, Yearwood told him the equipment was not working and attacked him with a sword. Smith, who had been riding his bicycle at the time, threw it at Yearwood, causing him to sustain an injury to his head.

A year after this altercation, Smith was walking through the now-convicted man’s neighbourhood and Yearwood, who was in his car next to his home, told him, “he ain’t forget me”.

Several of Yearwood’s relatives were in the verandah, including his mother and his child. Yearwood approached him with a sword and his mother shouted and asked him what he was doing and if he wanted to get into trouble. She took away the sword and Yearwood went into the house. Smith said he stood there talking to the mother about the money he was owed when Yearwood came back out with another sword. Smith recalled being struck to the left side of his head initially before being chopped two or three more times. He said he tried holding onto the sword, but it was too slippery to grasp. He was also struck twice on his left hand.

Outlining the aggravating factors of the offence, Justice Blair pointed to the nature of the attack; that the virtual complainant was unarmed; the seriousness of the injuries, including the fracture to Smith’s head and his physical health; that Yearwood was disarmed by his mother and went for another cutlass; and that the attack was done in the presence of two young family members. No mitigating factors were identified.

Regarding the offender, she said his early guilty plea and the statements made by character witnesses were mitigating factors, while his low to medium risk of reoffending was viewed as aggravating.

The judge ordered the convicted man to pay $1 000 of the $10 000 in compensation forthwith. His alternative sentence was 16 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

The case was prosecuted by Senior State Counsel Joyann Catwell, while Yearwood was self-represented.