Adults fight over box milk

A squabble between a shopkeeper and a customer which started over a box of milk, evoked laughter inside the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Thursday.

It was reported that the complainant visited the defendant Richard Campbell's shop and ordered milk. Campbell asked what type of milk she wanted and she replied "I want white milk. If I wanted a chocolate milk I would ask for it." An argument soon developed and the complainant indicated that Campbell began punching her body and slapping her head and face resulting in pain and swelling. Parish judge Maxine Dennis-McPherson was not amused.

"So the two of unnu come in here [the courtroom] for a box milk? Whether it was a chocolate milk, a vanilla milk, a strawberry milk or a white milk," she said. The complainant asked for $130,000 in compensation as her injuries have left her with blurry vision at nights, forcing her to wear sunglasses. Campbell, who pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, explained that the complainant called him a dunce after he asked what kind of milk she wanted.

"What is fi her response is me dunce because me supposed to know say a white milk she want. Me say 'No lady, common sense, you have different type of box milk'. Fi her response is 'Memba say a prep school me go and a you out school from grade two, so who fi call who dunce'. Me say 'A you come a my shop so a who fi call who dunce'," the shopkeeper related.

He shared that he went outside to close the shop's shutters when Campbell continued to hurl insults at him.

"She say 'What are you going to do? You s*** vagina.' She say it two time and she get up and dig [push] me and a so me look pon her and it start," Campbell told the judge.

Dennis-McPherson said that the matter could have been avoided if the parties communicated.

"Ma'am [the complainant] you too caused the matter to be here. You go to the shop and you asked for a box milk and he asked what type of box milk, you could have answered white milk. You aggravated the situation by calling [him] dunce. You caused it to escalate," the jurist said.

During a brief moment of negotiation, Campbell said he is willing to pay $100,000 in compensation in monthly instalments of $20,000. The matter was adjourned until July 27, when Campbell is expected to make his first payment.