Man takes knee in court

Stephon Nicholas Simon, the man whom police shot after he ran amok while holding a two-year-old baby at the Tarouba overpass two weeks ago, appeared in the San Fernando Magistrates Court yesterday.

Simon, 27, pleaded guilty to a total of five charges: four counts of assault on police and one for maliciously damaging a marked police vehicle, the property of the State.

Although Simon pleaded guilty in the First Court before Magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine, he told her he had no recollection of holding the baby during the episode. Simon, who was unrepresented by an attorney, claimed he was not in a right frame of mind at the time of the incident.

The charges against Simon are that on November 24, at Tarouba Link Road, Tarouba, he assaulted PCs Johnson, Dookie and Cupid and WPC Mahabir. The fifth charge is that he maliciously damaged a vehicle to the sum of $2,100. PC Mycoo of the Ste Madeleine Police Station laid the charges. Yesterday in his defence, Simon, who walked with a limp and had a cast on his right leg, said someone had drugged him. He told the magistrate that moments before the incident a neighbour had called him to smoke marijuana, but he believed it might have been spiked with cocaine.

“I remember the incident vaguely, but I cannot remember holding the baby. I don’t know what type of drug they gave me. I think cocaine is taking over the youths,” Simon said.

He added that he was a mason and a PH driver and wanted to “get over with the unforeseen circumstances and live a normal family-oriented life.”

The magistrate denied bail and remanded Simon into custody at the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital for observation and a report. She adjourned the case to December 21. As he limped out of the courtroom, he went on his other knee to apologise, saying, “I am truly sorry. I did not fall down. I went on my knees.”

The magistrate responded: “There was absolutely no need for you to do that, Mr Simon. This is not a church.