Owner Of Enrique’s Fined For Bar Fight by Nevis Reporter
Masomakali Kamua, known as Soda of Cotton Ground, will have to pay a hefty price for injuring a peacemaker during an altercation at his bar. Kamua went before Magistrate Yasmine Clarke on Tuesday (Jan 20) to answer to a wounding charge from July 2014. Okan Lawrence of Cherry Garden, the virtual complainant, testified that the incident took place on 26th July 2014. He said he had accompanied a friend named “Derrick” to play music at Enrique’s Bar as he customarily did. However, the bar owner did not like the music Derrick was playing and the two got into a verbal exchange. Soon that exchange escalated into a physical altercation between Kamua and Derrick. Lawrence testified that he intervened, trying to calm both men, when he suddenly realized that the fight was no longer between Derrick and Kamua, but was between the owner and himself. He said as a result of that altercation he sustained a number of wounds and was treated at the Alexandra Hospital around 4am. His injuries required about 24-25 stitches, Lawrence stated. When questioned by Kamua’s attorney Chesley Hamilton about his role in the fight, Lawrence said all he did was pull on Kamua’s dreadlocks. A police officer testified that he saw the skirmish between Derrick and Kamua and he tried to part the men. He said he pulled Derrick away and while telling him to cool down, he looked around to see Lawrence and Kamua tousling and Lawrence pulling Kamua’s hair. He said he saw Kamua grab a piece of bottle broken during the altercation and start swinging it. The officer saw Lawrence walk outside and when he went to the area where the fight took place he saw blood. When he asked Lawrence’s whereabouts he was told he had already gone to the hospital. He testified that Kamua also sustained injuries to his hand. He saw the defendant the day after and informed him that Lawrence had filed charges against him. Kamua’s attorney Chesley Hamilton asked for the statement his client made to police and was told that none was taken. Hamilton told the Magistrate that he had been inquiring for the statement for some time because his client told him he had given one. He said he needed to speak to his client and after a brief court recess, the charges were again read to Kamua and he changed his initial not guilty plea to guilty. Magistrate Clarke chastised the bar owner about the seriousness of the crime before convicting him and fining him $5000 to be paid in six months or spend 12 months in jail.
