R v Peart

• Jurisdiction: Jamaica
• Court: Court of Appeal (Jamaica)
• Judge: Henriques, J.A.
• Judgment Date: 07 December 1966
• Neutral Citation: JM 1966 CA 251
• Docket Number: Criminal Appeal No. 306 of 1966
• Date: 07 December 1966

Court of Appeal

Duffus, P.; Henriques, J.A,; Waddington, J.A

Criminal Appeal No. 306 of 1966

R.

and

Peart

Appearances:

Mr. C. U. Hines for the appellant.

Mr. Lloyd Barnett for the crown.

Criminal Law - Appeal against conviction (Unlawful wounding)

Henriques, J.A.

1 The appellant was convicted by the resident magistrate for Kingston on the 21st of September this year of wounding one Beryl Stanford and sentenced to pay a fine of £ 7 or 30 days at hard labour.

2 Beryl Stanford gave evidence for the crown that on the 7th of June this year at about 5.45 p.m. she was walking up Orange St. in a northerly direction and she stopped by the corner of Orange St. and Bowry Rd., Kingston, and was talking to one John Lee. She suddenly felt a blow on the back of her head and heard the appellant using some indecent language. After she got the blow, a bottle fell to the street and broke in pieces. She was bleeding from the back of her head and discovered that she had a cut. She went to the hospital and was treated. She, however, said that she knew the appellant before and, indeed, they had had differences over one Arthur Shakespeare.

3 She was cross-examined and said: “I know who hit me in my head. It was the accused. The accused ran past me up Orange St. after I got the blow.

4 The next witness called was the corporal of police who stated that the complainant made a report to him on the 7th of June, and he also got a report from John Lee. He further stated that John Lee was not in court that day - the day of the trial.

5 Mr. Gayle, learned counsel who appeared for the appellant in the court below, after the prosecution had closed its case, submitted to the court that there was no case to answer. This was over-ruled by the learned resident magistrate and, according to the...