Street violence now includes sparring women

Tiffany Lewis

There are frequent outbreaks between rival gangs in the streets, but tonight the CYDP has intervened to try and make peace between two sets of young women making violent attacks against each other. Nineteen year old Tiffany Lewis, a young mother to be, was today charged in Magistrates’ Court with Aggravated Assault with a Firearm upon her neighbor, Patricia Usher. That’s because Usher claims that around four on Monday evening, she got into an argument with Lewis, who then pointed a gun at her. Lewis, who was represented by attorney Richard “Dickie” Bradley, pleaded not guilty to the charge and Bradley asked the court to delay his client’s arraignment so that he could speak with Superintendent David Henderson of the Police Department. According to Bradley, he has since learned that the allegations that Lewis drew a weapon on Usher, were fabricated. But Chief Magistrate Margaret McKenzie explained that she could not delay the arraignment because the matter is already in the system. So she read the charge and remanded Lewis into custody until February second when she will reappear in court. Bradley is hoping that a meeting that is scheduled for Wednesday with CYDP officials and the young women may lead to a good outcome for Lewis. Meanwhile, her mother, Lisa Burgess, says the violence has gone on for too long and explained her version of what happened between her daughter and Usher.

Lisa Burgess, Mother of Tiffany Lewis

Lisa Burgess

“It’s a whole crowd of girls, they’ve always been fighting. Over three years now they’ve been fighting right. Two weeks dah back, dehn tek chance of her. They came in a van, all of them jump out wid machete and whap up dis child. So she decide to call it a loss, maybe dat could end it. But di girls dehn didn’t back off. So I decide she we gwein in to di station. That was yesterday because I said this is going too far. So we mi wah mek wah report but they told us that we cannot make it to Queen Street Police, we have to go to Fabers Road. We she we done out here, mek we go to CYDP.”

Anita Nembhard, Freelance Court Reporter

“Tell me what happened at CYDP when you all went there; you and your daughter yesterday.”

Lisa Burgess

“We went there because my daughter said she wanted to make peace with these girls, ih tired of the violence and we give some information concerning the girls and the behavior of the girls and thing. It’s a lot of thing is going on because right now the neighborhood at Caesar, they are all against these children. Ih look like they gang up with some from boulevard like they are making a gang. So me, as a mother, I intervene because I done is somebody is going to die. It look like one of the girls who live all the way at Caesar Ridge was back there and it look like they get into a little argument with pint bottle and stuff and they were throwing them at each other and the girl weh live next door, ih look like one ah di pint hit her house and she is sister-in-law to the same girl, Karen Pinto. She call di police and thing.”

Anita Nembhard

“But the allegation is that your daughter pulled a gun. Is that true?”

Lisa Burgess

“My daughter have a lot of witness back there saying it’s not so. Those people are lying on this child. They are lying, it’s something that they always do.”

Burgess says they have pressed charges against Pinto for a previous attack, when her daughter was stabbed to the face.