Brawl over passenger lands conductor in court

Jun 10, 2017 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

A 20-year-old minibus conductor was yesterday placed on $100,000 bail by City Magistrate Leron Daly when he appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer to an assault charge.

Troy Castello

Troy Castello of Kuru-Kuru, Squatting Area, Linden Highway, initially pleaded guilty (and later changed his plea to not guilty) to the charge which alleged that on May 18 at Georgetown, he unlawfully and maliciously wounded Tennessee De Cunha.
Police Prosecutor Preston John told the court that the defendant and the virtual complainant are known to each other, since they both are conductors operating the same route.
The prosecutor told the court that on the day in question, around 19:00 hrs, De Cunha was loading his bus when Castello went to De Cunha’s bus and told the passengers to exit that bus and enter the bus which he was loading.
De Cunha after realising what Castello was doing, told him to stop and the two got into an argument which resulted in Castello taking a beer bottle and hitting the victim to his head and hand.
The matter was then reported to the station and Castello was arrested and charged.
When Castello was given a chance to address the court, he stated “Is only one passenger I took from his bus, because my bus needed one more to full. He (De Cunha) pushed me first, so I decided to pick up the beer bottle and lash him on his head.”
The court was then adjourned for a few minutes and in that time, Castello, who was seated in the prisoner’s dock, was seen interacting with an attorney. After a few minutes, the magistrate returned to the bench and attorney Tiffany Jeffrey told the court that she was representing Castello, and that he would like to change his plea, since he was not aware of the penalty the charge attracts.
Magistrate Daly then re-read the charge to the defendant and he pleaded not guilty.
The attorney in her application to secure bail for her client told the court that he was a first-time offender and is the father of two young children. The prosecutor had no objection to bail being granted. Castello was released on bail and is expected to make his next court appearance on June 23.

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