Jury to decide who beat whom

A woman yesterday denied that she and her mother had brought three men into her house to beat her common-law husband, Timothy Malchan, with whom she and her mother had an altercation. Pamela Salazer also denied that up to last Sunday, she was still living with Malchan, who is before Justice Alice Yorke Soo-Hon in the Port-of-Spain Second Assizes charged with wounding Salazer and her mother, Jane Forde, with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Malchan is alleged to have beaten Salazer and Forde with a piece of iron on the morning of February 9, 2002, at his house on Back Street in Arouca.

Forde sustained a fractured skull and two lacerations, while Salazer’s hand was fractured. From the blows Malchan received from the men, he ended up with a cut on his finger and a blow to his eye. Attorney Ricky Rahim is defending Malchan, while Alexander Prince and Jeron Joseph are prosecuting. The court heard that Malchan was chasing the women and throwing stones at them, when three men stopped them in the road and asked why they were running. The men intervened and sometime later, when Salazer returned home, they went into the house and beat Malchan in the gallery.

PC Francis Moore, who is now retired, testified that about 4.25 am on February 9, 2002, Salazer arrived at the Arouca Police Station and was filing a report about Malchan, who showed up 15 minutes later.  PC Moore recalled Salazer saying, “this is the man who beat me and my mother with a piece of iron.” He also recalled Malchan saying to Salazer, “You and your mother bring two men in the house to beat me up.” She replied, “Yuh lie.” PC Moore said he went to the house where he saw Forde on the ground, and took her to the Arouca Medical Facility via an ambulance. She was then transferred to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. After Moore’s testimony yesterday, the State closed its case. Only three witnesses were called — Forde, Salazer and Moore. When hearing resumes today, the defence is expected to put its case to the nine-member jury.