The Tribune

BY DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A 29-year-old male resident of Grand Cay, Abaco, was convicted of causing grievous harm after admitting to punching to a man in the face who was hospitalized after suffering a concussion and left with several missing teeth.

Elvardo Cooper, 29, was arraigned in the Freeport Magistrate Court yesterday before Magistrate Charlton Smith. He pleaded guilty to the charge of causing grievous harm to Valdez Gardiner, of Grand Cay on August 6.

According to the particulars, sometime around 6pm police were called to a disturbance on the main road at the government dock where they observed a man lying on the ground unconscious with visible injuries to the face and head. Due to the nature of the injuries, Gardiner was transported to the Rand Memorial Hospital where his condition was listed as serious.

As a result of police investigations and eyewitness accounts, Cooper was arrested and charged with the offence, which carries a penalty of three years imprisonment.

When asked by the judge why he did what did, Cooper explained he became upset when Gardiner had assaulted a girl (Gardiner’s niece). He claimed he had slapped the young woman, causing her to bleed at the mouth.

“I went to assist her,” Cooper told the court. He explained Gardiner then confronted him and tried to hit him first, and he punched Gardiner with his fist.

Cooper, a part-time fisherman, told Magistrate Smith that he was very upset to see a man putting hands on a woman like that.

However, Prosecutor Garth McIntosh told the court Cooper should be made to account for his actions. He explained that Gardiner had suffered serious head injuries and had to be hospitalized as a result of a concussion, and had five to six of his teeth knocked out during the altercation.

Prosecutor McIntosh reported Gardiner still has swelling and suffers from memory loss. “He does not remember the incident,” he said.

Cooper pleaded with the judge not to send him to jail because he is a father of two children, a one-year-old and five-month-old.

Magistrate Smith told Cooper while the man had allegedly assaulted a woman, he should have contacted the police instead.

He convicted Cooper of the offence and ordered that he pay a fine of $1,500, and $5,000 compensation to Gardiner. Failure to pay both the fine and compensation, Cooper will serve two years imprisonment at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.