After Christopher Seth Japeth Bynoe pleaded guilty earlier this year to what Magistrate Douglas Frederick described as a “daring” crime, he remanded the youth pending a presentencing report which the court hoped would reveal something redeeming.
Bynoe, a resident of Forde’s Road, Clapham, St Michael, confessed to assaulting Wendell Foster with intent to rob him, unlawfully and maliciously wounding him and intentionally damaging a partition belonging to the Crown on June 28 this year.
The facts were that the complainant went to the Wildey branch of Rubis close to 1 a.m., to get something to eat. The constable, who was not dressed in uniform, was sitting in his vehicle with the door opened.
It was during that time that Bynoe, with an onion bag over his face, walked up to Foster holding a two-foot long screwdriver, put it to the complainant’s chest and demanded all of his money. The two fought and a security guard eventually came from inside and helped subdue Bynoe.
Foster identified himself as a policeman during the attack. After Bynoe was arrested and detained at the District ‘A’ Police Station, he had also caused damage to a partition by butting it.
Attorney for the first-time offender, Mohia Ma’at told the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on the last occasion that Bynoe definitely had a problem with alcohol, had been “in a highly drunken and intoxicated state” when the incident occurred and “needed help”.
The lawyer further asked Magistrate Frederick to consider community service for Bynoe since he was a first-time offender.
Magistrate Frederick’s response, though, was that the case did not merit community service. He felt that Bynoe had been “very daring” and ordered a presentencing report.
The report, which was presented to the court today, showed that even though persons at the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic where Bynoe was enrolled felt he had potential, his community had expressed relief on his incarceration.
“Sir, I promise not to go back on that track. Just give me one more chance please . . . ” Bynoe pleaded. The teenager also begged the court not to hit him “too hard”.
Magistrate Frederick expressed the view that Bynoe needed intervention and that sometimes it was necessary for some persons to experience jail so that they could make up their minds that it is “not the place” for them.
“It is not that I want to punish you; I want to rehabilitate you . . . If you accept the drug rehabilitation up there [HMP Dodds] when you come back out, you will be good.”
The Magistrate described Bynoe as “a time bomb”, based on his combined use of cocaine and alcohol. He further expressed concern for the fact that as a first-time offender, Bynoe had started at the high end of the scale.
“Normally a fellow would graduate to this level but you started at the top,” Frederick told the teen.
He added that the complainant as a policeman had to use all his expertise “otherwise he might have been able to fend you off”.
Taking the probation officer’s recommendation into consideration, the Magistrate remanded Bynoe to the Psychiatric Hospital for observation and a report, which will determine his suitability to attend the drug rehabilitation programme at Verdun House.
He returns to court on September 15.