Teen allegedly beaten for bad writing

A senior parish judge was stunned yesterday when she heard that a Corporate Area man physically assaulted a teen at his school because he was not writing properly.

Prosecutors at the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court said that last November, the complainant was at school when Alex Goulbourne visited the institution and told him to take out his book. The complainant, who is 15, handed his English notebook to Goulbourne who looked through the pages. It is alleged that Goulbourne said "How me tell yuh fi write good and yuh not writing good?"

The accused then allegedly instructed the complainant to walk towards a wall and then said "Weh me tell yuh say when me come up here and yuh nuh do yuh work good?" to which the complainant replied "If when yuh come up here and mi no do mi work and write good, yuh a go beat mi up." The court heard that Goulbourne hit the complainant several times in the belly, chest and back. He then held the complainant's head and used his knee to hit him in the face. Goulbourne has not entered a plea to the charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Senior Parish Judge Lori-Anne Cole-Montaque asked if the accused and the complainant were relatives.

"Not blood relatives," the accused man told the judge. "Did you assault this child?" the judge probed further.

"Not exactly like what was said," Goulbourne said, before explaining that he saw the child's hand on the desk and placed his hand over it, using it to guide the child's writing.

When Cole-Montaque asked why he felt his actions were appropriate, Goulbourne informed her that he was given the role of a big brother by the complainant's mother. However, neither the child nor his mother was present in court yesterday. The matter was adjourned until June 14 for the complainant to attend.