Rasta accuses neighbours of cutting his dog’s tail

A Rastafarian was on the brink of tears as he lamented how his neighbours, one of whom is a minor, allegedly stole everything from his house and even cut his dog's tail while he spent three days in custody.

"Your Honour, me guh station and report dem cause dem tief weh me pigeon dem. Me deh a jail fi three day and when me come out me house empty. When me say empty, me mean all pot and plate gone, everything tek out, fridge, TV, everything. The whole a me dog dem run weh, that a if dem nuh kill dem off, because dem cut off me dog tail before. Me lost $750,000 worth a music pon thumb drive and hard drive. Me lose everything," said Gerald Coombs.

He is currently embroiled in a case and cross-case before the courts with Ricardo Osbourne and his 17-year-old brother. Osbourne, 23, is charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm while the teen is charged with unlawful wounding. Coombs is charged with two counts of unlawful wounding.

"Them feel like me fraid a dem but me nuh fraid, me just nuh want have me right and give it weh. Me nuh want go prison fi dem Your Honour," Coombs related.

Coombs, Osbourne and the 17-year-old appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Monday to share the results of a mediation agreement, as the matter was sent to restorative justice earlier this year. However, probing by Parish Judge Venise Blackstock-Murray revealed that the intervention was not successful, as Coombs contended that his house was looted when he was arrested, after the brothers pressed charges against him.

"Your Honour, the officer arrest me after she hear one side a di story. Me go up a the station wid me lock and key inna me hand, me tell dem say a fi me house and the officer say me fi get lock up. Mediation caah work," he said. As Coombs spoke, Osbourne and his brother stood motionless in the dock, their eyes focused on the presiding judge.

According to Coombs, the disagreement stems from garbage being thrown in front of his gate, allegedly by Osbourne and the teen.

"Me clean up my gate and by time me come back, me see bare garbage throw down in front my yard. Me see the big one [Osbourne] with a piece of stick in him hand. Me coulda kill dem Your Honour, but me say me nah hurt him," he said. Coombs said the stick broke and he "jook" Osbourne with a knife. Coombs said that when he visited the police station, he was instructed to go to hospital. He also accused the mother of his fellow accused of accosting him at hospital.

The matter was adjourned until September 28 to allow the prosecutor and investigating officer to complete the file.