A 20-year-old man was ordered to pay $800,000 in restitution after he pleaded guilty to assaulting his 17-year-old girlfriend when he appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Tuesday.

The accused, whose name is being withheld to protect the complainant’s identity, was charged with assaulting a female and unlawful wounding. However, the man only pleaded guilty to the assault charge.

The allegations are that the man, who was at her house, followed the teenager to the veranda and demanded to know who she was speaking to on a phone call. The court was then told that he slammed the girl against the grill and kicked her in her face, resulting in a cut above her eye.

The accused man denied ever kicking the teenage girl.

But, the girl explained to the court that because of tensions between them, she asked him to come for his clothes at her house.

“Does that sound normal or healthy to you, to pull her?” Senior Parish Judge Lori-Ann Cole-Montague asked. “She a nuh bag a mango.”

“You out of order to have done that, and she’s 17 years old!” she proclaimed.

“So you were going after a fruit before it did ripe,” Cole-Montague said, after learning that the teenager started dating the accused when she was 16 years old.

Addressing the accused, Cole-Montague asked him if he is employed, to which he disclosed that he is an engineer at a shop.

Detailing an earlier incident between the teenager and the accused, the girl said he went to her house and shouted at her, calling her a whore and a run-around.

“So persons could have heard?” The judge asked the teenager.

“Yes, Your Honour,” she answered.

Defending his actions, the man said he was threatened by her friend.

“The friend told me on the phone, Miss, seh him a go pull up on me and weh him a go do to me. She was calling him on the phone and that’s why I…” he said before being interrupted by the judge.

“Alright, so stick a pin now. The friend tell you that and you lash out on her?” Cole-Montague asked.

“Let me tell you something young man, you’re going to leave her alone,” she ordered.

“From the day me and her in [the altercation] we never cross paths again,” he responded.

“Yes, because you are in custody and you shall be there a little longer. I don’t take these things lightly, and I’m looking at her age and she looks quite vulnerable to me. There are some traumas that a 17-year-old should not have encountered at all,” the judge said.

Turning to the teenager’s mother, Cole-Montague said, “And mother me have one dose a rub down fi you. What do you know about this young man, mother?”

“Miss, mi [tell her] nuh go deh so. Mi seh, you a give me stress and pain ‘cause me cya take it,” the mother answered, after releasing a heavy sigh.

“Well, she learn now. All a we did young at one time. Now you learn that a nuh fi you. And this relationship started when you were 16 years old. I don’t judge young people like how some people judge them and say them feelings never ride them in a dem skin yet. But, you have to use wisdom. I don’t like this for you and I don’t like the trauma that you have gone through, because there’s the violence that has already taken place and the slurs,” Cole-Montague stated.

Detailing another incident, the teenager told the judge about a time when the accused told her to visit him at his home to work on her school-based assessment (SBA) one day after school ended early and her mother was at work. She recalled that the man left her at the house for a while and then returned arguing about a spilled ashtray.

The argument escalated to him accusing her of cheating on him. The girl went on to say that he ripped her clothes and attempted to throw her out of the house.

Hearing this, the stunned judge told the now crying girl to not say anything else and encouraged the mother to hold and comfort her.

It was also revealed in court that the father of the accused man allegedly contacted the child, pleading with her to drop the case against his son, and promising that he will provide a laptop and full scholarship for her studies.

To this, Cole-Montague said, “I don’t know of a full scholarship under $ 1 million… are you willing to pay this?”

The accused man agreed. But, seeing his predicament an attorney rose to offer counsel pro-bono to the accused man. The attorney even attempted to argue that both parties can go to mediation, and the judge could show leniency and offer him bail based on the fact that he is still young and this is his first offence.

Cole-Montague denied this request, however, she did reduce the amount to be paid to $800,000 and ordered the man to pay for counselling for the complainant.

The accused is to return to court for sentencing on October 24, when a community report should be completed. An order was also made for his fingerprint.

“This time on remand will be part of his sentence,” Cole-Montague said.