Mother of 5 gets jail reprieve

A mother of  five who had beaten  her pregnant neighbour, because she “didn’t like her,” got a reprieve from her six-month jail sentence yesterday by the Court of Appeal. Instead, Linda Howe will pay a fine of $500 and compensation of $1,500 or in default, serve three months’ hard labour. The Court, comprising Justice Rolston Nelson and Justice Anthony Lucky, dismissed Howe’s appeal but varied her sentence. Howe, 32, a mother of five of John Elie Road, Chase Village, Chaguanas, was found guilty of assaulting her neighbour Therese Giles on July 24, 1999 and was sentenced to six months’ hard labour by Magistrate Annette McKenzi.

The State’s case  was that Giles, a neighbour for seven to eight years, was in her yard when Howe and another person attacked her. Using her fist, Howe beat Giles about her chest, back and abdomen, saying: “We don’t want you here. You have to leave. We don’t like you. You feel you too nice.” During the beating Giles asked Howe not to hit her any more in her abdomen since she was pregnant. Howe denied hitting Giles, but admitted setting fire to a bucket she had used to throw rubbish in her yard. She also accused Howe of removing two bricks from her house and smashing it among other things.  

The Court initially wanted to find out whether one of two appeals filed on behalf of Howe was bona fide and her attorney at the time had visited Howe in prison on January 22, 2001 to take instructions for the filing of the appeal. Jawara Mobota, Howe’s attorney at the appeal, could not give the Court the information, but Assistant DPP Devan Rampersad told the Court that he had information from the prison  which indicated that her attorney then had visited the prison. However, the procedure which he obtained the signed notice of appeal and the subsequent filing with the Clerk of the Peace was unorthodox. While the Court pronounced  that it was not the proper procedure to follow, DPP Rampersad said that in the interest of justice, he would not be objecting to the appeal being heard. After dismissing the appeal, the Court heard that Howe was a mother of five and the sole bread winner of the family.