Bottle throwing defendant cries in court

A woman wept openly after a judge's ruling when she appeared before the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court last Friday.

Juesie McDonald was ordered by judge Lester Crooks to pay a fine of $30,000 or spend six months in prison, which caused the tears.

Charged with assault occasioning bodily harm, she pleaded guilty with explanation.

McDonald was alleged to have thrown a bottle at a neighbour's house which broke and cut one of the occupants.

"I did not throw a bottle to hit anyone. I throw di bottle but I didn't see anybody," she told the court. "When she [the complainant] come a station, she never show the police no cut."

However, the complainant's mother, who told the court that her daughter was unable to make it as she had recently given birth, said although she did not go to the doctor for the injury, she indeed received an injury after McDonald threw a barrage of bottles at their home.

"She throw about six or seven bottles at our veranda. We had to be locked inside like hostages," she said.