Jury finds Loubiere man not guilty of injuring ex-girlfriend

Okim Lestrade of Loubiere charged with unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm (GBH) on the mother of his eight year-daughter, walked away a free man at about 1:00pm on Thursday February 28, 2013 after a nine-member all-female jury found him not guilty.

Lestrade did not have a lawyer but defended himself from the witness stand. He called one witness, Mikhail Hodge of Roseau.

According to the evidence, on Saturday March 13, 2010 Lestrade and Hodge were on their bikes riding from Roseau to Pointe Michel when Lestrade had an accident in the Citronier area.

Hodge told the court: "He fell and sustained some injuries. The injuries were bleeding a lot. He was scarred up… all over his body, his hand, his feet." Lestrade climbed aboard Hodge's bike and they rode to Loubiere to the home of Samantha Wright, the mother of Lestrade's daughter to get some items to clean the wound.

"I called her and asked her to open the door, because she can't see I am bleeding. She told me to get out before her door. I told her, you don't want to open your door, pass it through the window."

Lestrade continued: "I climbed on the gate on the side of the house and went in the balcony or porch. Then I put my hand through the window and opened the door. There was no sign of her. I took what I came for and went outside. Outside, I asked the one who accompanied me; I asked him if he saw her. He said no. And we left".

On Wednesday February 27, 2013, the State called five witnesses, one was Wright. She recalled Lestrade coming to her home and asking for hydrogen peroxide.

"I told him I did not have to tell him to leave. I already had a restraining order against him. During that same month, a week before, I was attacked by Okim Lestrade. That matter went to court."

Then she heard a voice calling her name from her porch. "I saw it was Okim Lestrade standing on my porch. He insisted that I opened the porch door. I drew away from the window where I was standing because it was close to the porch door. I said to him he should not be there and asked him to leave. I mentioned to him I had called the police. He said he didn't care. He is going to break the glass… I made my way to the stairs leading downstairs. I heard the glass break. Heard my door opened. I knew that he was in the house, and I needed to escape. I made my way to a kitchen. There is a window. I opened the window, climbed on top and jumped down. I felt a pain in my leg. In my fear I ran towards the bayside." "I ran towards the bayside. I jumped in the sea and swam a little from my house; I came out of the sea and started to run to the houses that were close there. There was a wall I climbed and made my way towards someone's house so I could get help. There was someone sleeping on the floor, and I woke him up and explained to them. It was Sylvester. He went on to help me. He called the police and I also gave him my sister's number so she could know where I was at the time.

"I felt a pain in my leg again and I fell to the floor. I could not stand. The gentleman Sylvester assisted me by giving me a chair to sit on and waited until my sister came." Dr Pharaoh Cuffy examined Wright; there was a fracture to the left ankle.

Before he was charged, Lestrade told the police: I agree I broke the glass, but all that would not have happened if she had given me my medication.

The jury believed him.