KINGSTON, Jamaica — Four people accused of stabbing and assaulting a police constable in downtown Kingston appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court Monday.

The four allegedly attacked the policeman because his girlfriend refused to purchase an item of clothing.

When the case was called up, two of the four accused  — store owner Sandra Smart and Jerome Carwin — notified the court that they would, on Tuesday, apply to have their bail conditions varied so they could travel abroad for business.

The court was told in September that the cop and his girlfriend entered a store and the woman asked to fit a blouse that she intended to purchase.

However, she was told that the blouse was the tight-fighting type and as such she could not try it.

An altercation developed between Smart and the cop's girlfriend. 

The policeman, who was in plain-clothes, attempted to part the two women when Carwin came from outside the store and allegedly stabbed him in the shoulder.

Seventy-three-year-old Joyce Millings and 18-year-old Sashayle Gayle allegedly joined in on the attack.

The policeman had to be hospitalised for a day after being rescued by another storeowner.

The passports of Smart, 48, and 34-year-old Carwin were seized when they were offered $250,000 bail each.