2 men charged for brawl, woman’s affection heart of issue

David Anthony Phillips

Also in court, two men appeared before separate magistrates this morning to be charged in connection with a brawl that took place near the Belcan Bridge on the morning of April fourth. The first to be arraigned was John Brown, who is charged with Aggravated Assault and Wounding for allegedly attacking David Phillips with a machete. He appeared in the courtroom of Magistrate Sherigne Rodriguez, where he pleaded not guilty and was granted bail of two thousand, five hundred dollars without objection from the prosecution. Meanwhile, Phillips was arraigned before Magistrate Hettie-Mae Stuart for a charge of Harm against Brown. He initially pleaded guilty, but offered an explanation. He told the court that he was acting in self defense when he threw his bicycle at Brown, who was approaching him with a machete.

John Brown

He claimed that Brown swung at him and he used his arm as a shield to avoid being chopped on his face. Phillips says he received fifteen stitches for the injury on his left forearm and without police intervention, it would have been worse. Magistrate Stuart entered an equivocal plea of not guilty on his behalf and offered him bail in the sum of two thousand dollars. But he could not meet bail and he is behind bars tonight. Both Brown and Phillips are to return to court on May twenty-third. Before his arraignment, Phillips told our court reporter that his ex-common-law wife is now in a relationship with Brown and he believes the attack was triggered by jealousy.