Tylon Theophile, 23 years of Glasgow Fond Cole has been slapped with a $2,000.00 fine by Chief Magistrate Candia Carette George after he pleaded guilty to wounding a foreign national who was vacationing on the island.
The complainant in the matter is Erwin Nicholas Van Wieringen a male adult from the Netherlands who was vacationing in Dominica.
Brief Facts
On Tuesday 7, March 2023 at about 11 pm, Wieringen along with three of his friends were walking on Old Street after coming from Ka Tai Restaurant and Bar and walking along the Old Market on Old Street when an unidentified young man approached his friend Iordanka and started attacking her…she screamed for help and the complainant rushed to her help.
The accused started running away and the complainant gave chase after him and was able to subdue him. While the complainant was holding onto the accused, he bit him on his left shoulder. The complainant was later assisted by Security Officers who were working nearby after his female friend screamed for help.
The accused was successfully apprehended and identified as Tylon Theophille of Glasgow Fond Cole, a report was made to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), and the accused was arrested by the police. He was arrested for wounding. The complainant was issued a medical form and taken to the Dominica China Friendship Hospital for medical attention.
Mitigation
His lawyer Wayne Norde told the court that his client is a 23-year-old painter and is very sorry for his actions. “He is remorseful, please don’t send him to jail we beg the court to temper justice with mercy,” Norde pleaded on behalf of his client.
Sentencing
The Chief Magistrate imposed a fine of EC$2,000.00 to be paid on or before June 30, 2023, in default of five (5) months in jail. She admonished him for his actions telling him that it “puts Dominica in a bad light.”
“You followed the bad company and were in the wrong place, put water in your wine, change your friends, and you can still bounce back,” she told him.
She warned him that in his quest to pay the fine he should “not steal” to pay it but instead ask for help from family and friends. Moments after he was discharged from the courtroom, he was again arrested by the police who claim that he was a person of interest to them in other matters.
