Man pleads guilty to assaulting ex-common-law wife after she refused sex

A man from central Trinidad who assaulted his former common-law wife, breaking her tooth, after she refused to have sex with him, has pleaded guilty.

The man will return to court on Tuesday, when he will be sentenced by Chaguanas magistrate Nickolas Ali.

He has offered to compensate the woman, who told Ali all she wanted was to fix her broken tooth.

He pleaded guilty and accepted the police’s version of the incident that on March 16, at 2 pm, the woman was asleep when he woke her up asking for sex.

But his attorney Bhimal Maharajh said his client just wanted to end the relationship.

Maharajh said after his client told his former common-law wife of his intention to end things, she made allegations and accusations which led to an argument.

“A breakup can be hard to swallow…He just wanted to move on,”

In presenting the facts of the case, the police prosecutor said after the accused demanded sex, the woman told him she was not in the mood and asked him to leave her alone.

The prosecutor said the couple started to argue and the man stood on the bed, grabbed her by the arms and threw her off the bed.

As a result she hit her face on the wall and one of her teeth fell out.

In his plea of mitigation, Maharajh said his client was 46 years old and was remorseful over what took place.

He said if he could, his client wanted to tell his former common-law wife he just wanted to move on. During the virtual hearing, Ali asked for the victim to be brought to court to make a victim impact statement.

Addressing the magistrate, she said she just wanted her tooth repaired.

Maharajh said his client’s nephew had spoken to the woman about fixing her tooth and he was prepared to compensate her once they know the cost.

The woman told Ali she could get an invoice by Tuesday, so the matter was adjourned until then.

The man was granted $10,000 own bail, after the prosecution made no objection, and told to return to court, when he will be sentenced.