Tobago man jailed for stabbing ex-girlfriend

"Too many people feel they must control others by force, and it is the men trying to control the women by force. If a woman says she no longer wishes to be in a relationship with you, all you have to do is walk away!" the magistrate told 25-year-old Dion Remy as she imposed the jail term.

The court heard that Remy, a chef at a popular restaurant in Crown Point, and the victim Liselle Quash, a 23-year-old clerk at the THA Education Division, had been in an intimate relationship and sharing an apartment. However, the victim moved back to her mother’s home and told Remy the relationship was over. On the day in question, the victim was walking along Smithfield Road, near her workplace, when she observed Remy coming in the opposite direction, the court was told.

The victim turned around and was walking away from Remy when he caught up with her, grabbed her around the neck, and pulled her into nearby bushes. "He threw me on the ground and knelt on me, and held down my hand, and pulled out a board-handle knife and began stabbing me. I had told him I want us to break up," the victim told the court.

The victim was dealt several stab wounds to her left side, left shoulder, left side of her face, and the back of her neck, according to a medical report. She raised an alarm which alerted several co-workers and other persons nearby, and Remy fled the scene. He was arrested by warrant two weeks after the incident. Remy pleaded guilty to a charge of wounding. The charge was laid by Detective PC Daniel, of the Scarborough CID.

Remy claimed that "we usually met to talk at that location day to day." He said on the day of the incident tempers flared and there were pushing and tugging. Remy claimed that during an ensuing scuffle "we both fell down onto a garbage heap which contained old pieces of metal and bottles. I was injured on my hand," he told the court.

The magistrate stated that based on injuries outlined in the victim’s medical report, she did not believe Remy’s statement that he and the victim fell. Defence attorney Neville Gibbes, in mitigation, pointed to Remy’s clean record and submitted that no useful purpose would be served by sending him to jail. "It’s very hard for a man to deal with a relationship gone sour," Gibbes argued.

He recommended that a sentence of a fine and compensation be considered. In response, the magistrate asked, "Do you think any amount of money will compensate for the trauma that this young woman went through, being sat upon and being carved out in public? Do you think any monetary compensation can compensate for that? If she is not mentally strong, she might not be able to have a relationship with another man. She will be walking and looking over her shoulder!" noted the magistrate.