Pastor ‘s car smashed with boulder by stepson

FUMING with anger, a 31-year-old man took a rock and threw it at a pastor’s car, smashing the back windscreen. The pastor is his stepfather. The accused, Allan Bachan, yesterday admitted to battling with drugs and alcohol addiction for the past six years, which caused him to lash out at others.

Bachan appeared yesterday before senior magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine in the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court.

The charge was that on Thursday he maliciously damaged a white Opel belonging to Pastor Kendrick Sooknarine. Bachan pleaded guilty to the charge laid by PC Ramsaroop.

Police prosecutor PC Cleyon Seedan told the court at about 11.50pm on Thursday, Sooknarine was at his Carib Street, San Fernando home when he and Bachan had an argument. Bachan threw a boulder at Sooknarine’s car which was in the yard. The damage amounted to $2,500.

Attorney Deke Rohlehr said his client was under the influence of alcohol and other substances. For years, he said, Bachan’s family had tried to enrol him in a drug rehabilitation programme, but they were unsuccessful. Rohlehr said his client was a professional chef but, because of his addictions, he had difficulty keeping a job.

Bachan’s emotional mother told the magistrate she had tried endlessly to get her son the help he needed.

“He would give me ultimatums. He would tell me if he is to be rehabilitated he wants money or a car, he wants me to pay him to go,” she said as she broke down in tears, adding that she now feels guilty that she may have spoiled her son.

“The warning signs were there and I ignored them over the years.”

She told the magistrate, things at the family home worsened in October last year when her son began to take things from the house.

“It got to the point where the church also started to lose money,” she said. After listening to his mother, Bachan told the magistrate he was ready get the help he needed.

He was fined $2,000 or in default will serve six months in jail with hard labour. He was also ordered to pay $1,000 compensation, or in default six weeks’ simple imprisonment.

The magistrate also bonded Bachan in the sum of $5,000 to keep the peace for three years. He is also to begin treatment at the Mt St Benedict Rehabilitation Centre on Monday. If he fails to complete the programme, he must return to court for sentencing.