By FARRAH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
A FEMALE marine yesterday testified how her spouse threw garbage at her before punching her repeatedly and accusing her of contaminating their marital home.
The husband of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force officer is currently on trial before Assistant Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain for allegedly causing grievous harm to her.
Both of their names have been withheld to protect the complainant’s identity.
When the woman gave evidence yesterday, she said she and her husband have been married for one year but were currently living separately. She said on the night in question, she arrived home around 8.30pm and found her husband in the shower. She said when she went to their room to get clothes so she could shower after him, the accused told her she was contaminating the room and that he did not want her in it.
“I left the bedroom to go to the front room and place my clothes on the couch,” she told the court. “I remember he took the bathroom garbage and threw the bag at me. He said I was nasty.”
The woman said she threw the garbage bag back at her husband and told him to stop. She said he then grabbed a can of Lysol and began to spray her in her “face and all over her body” while accusing her of “contaminating” their house.
She said the spray burned her eyes and caused her to cough, but when she tried to leave, her husband followed her to their room and continued to spray the disinfectant on her.
“I left the room and went to wash my face,” she continued. “He told me I was too close to him. From there he said he did not want me to touch him or be near him. We ended up having an argument.”
The woman said she did not do anything to cause the accused to act the way he did. She said he then punched her in her face at which point she went back to their master bedroom to “try to escape.”
She said when she closed the door behind her, she had to put her weight against it while she called 911 because the accused was “trying to push himself in the room.”
“He barged through the door, took my cell phone and started to punch me about my body again. I tried to defend myself so I hit him back and grabbed his balls so he could let me go. We ended up on the bed and he punched me again.”
The woman said while they were on the bed, her husband put his arms around her neck. She said she was about to fall so she grabbed hold of him and told him she was going to call the police. She said when she asked him for her phone, he told her it was under the bed but when she looked it was not there.
“I went to CID that night. The police officers took me to Doctors Hospital and I was seen by doctors and admitted overnight. I had morphine drips and swelling in my eye. The nurses took pictures.”
The court was told that the altercation was not the first time the accused became physically abusive with his wife. She said she had also reported him to police on another occasion which resulted in a “be on the lookout” poster being issued in his name.
When she was cross-examined, the woman did not agree that her husband sprayed the Lysol because he had fears of contracting COVID-19.
The case continues December 2.
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