A young man who appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court last week for punching his 16-year-old girlfriend in her eye, told the court he was defending himself after she saw him with a girl and started fussing and “fire lick” on him.

The court on Friday heard that Davian Miller, a 21-year-old resident of Tower Street in Kingston, during a dispute with the complainant punched her in her eye, causing bruises and swelling, and also kicked and damaged her cellular phone.

But Miller only admitted to assaulting the complainant.

“Me and a girl was sitting down on Tower Street and she come by and ask ‘a who da girl deh?’ She start cuss and a wild up herself,” Miller explained.

Miller said he rode away on his bicycle, but later when she saw him she resumed arguing.

According to Miller, the complainant said to him ‘Oh, a style yuh a style mi’.

“She come up in front a mi face and mi still nuh say nutten to her,” he related. “She start say mi an yuh done and she start fire lick and so mi an har tussle up.”

Regarding the phone, Miller said he did not cause any damage to the device, which the complainant told the court cost $8,000.

Parish Judge Vaughn Smith asked him if he was willing to compensate the complainant and he indicated his willingness.

The complainant was then asked if she would accept $20,000, but she said she only wanted $10,000.

This prompted the judge to ask her: “You and him still together, ma’am?”

“No,” answered the complainant whose eye was still discoloured and swollen.

Miller, in the end, was remanded and his mother was told to return to court with $10,000 on December 3.

The accused is also to return to court on that day in respect to another case in which he is accused of throwing stones and assaulting a man and a woman.

It is alleged that the two were attacked by Miller after they told him that he was wrong to demand payment from a taxi man who had asked for his help to push his car out of a hole.

The court heard that on November 2, the taxi was driving in Kingston when it fell into a ditch. The taxi driver reportedly asked the passengers and people who were nearby, including Miller, to assist him when Miller demanded payment.

The two complainants reportedly told him that he was wrong to do that and he got upset and started throwing stones at them, which reportedly hit the two.

Miller did not deny throwing stones at the duo, however, he told the court that the female complainant had scratched him on his chest with a scissors.

He, however, denied demanding money from the taxi driver.

According to Miller, he and his friends were playing football on Tower Street when the taxi man saw them and asked for their help and he asked him if he could sponsor them some juice.

He said the woman, who came onto to the scene started cursing expletives and, saying “unuh a hungry belly”.

He said she attacked him with the scissors and he retaliated by throwing stones at her.

The judge then asked him if he had told the police that and he said yes, but the prosecutor told the court that he made no comment when he was cautioned.

The judge, however, remanded him in custody and scheduled another date for the complainants to be present.