KINGSTON, Jamaica— A man who pleaded guilty to hitting his now ex-girlfriend during an altercation after she confronted him about text messages on his phone was ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution when they turned up at the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Tuesday.

Romario Stevens pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding and assault occasioning bodily harm, but told the judge that he had an explanation for his actions.

It is alleged that on March 29, 2024, the couple was at home when an argument developed after Stevens received a text message from a female friend. The complainant, after seeing the name of the person who sent the message, inquired about it.

Stevens reportedly hit the complainant during the altercation.

When asked by Senior Parish Judge Sanchia Burrell if this was the first time she had been assaulted by Stevens, the complainant said no. She informed the judge that not only had Stevens hit her before, but that this was the second time that she had had to make a report against him.

The complainant told Judge Burrell that following the latest incident she ended the two-year relationship.

By way of explanation, Stevens told Judge Burrell that he was asleep when the complainant started attacking him about the message he received.

“Your honour, I was sleeping when she saw the message and she start shake me in me sleep so me wake up and go outside. Me come back, she have me phone and me car key, she throw weh me car key and she start fight me so me hit her back,” Stevens told the court.

To the complainant, Judge Burrell asked: “You put your hands on him first?” to which she replied that she had grabbed Stevens’ shirt.

Burrell further inquired about the time of the incident, and the complainant told the court that it was about 11:30 pm when the incident occurred.

“No man, it too late fi take on the man. You have to wait until morning. The man a sleep. Eleven-thirty in the night is not a good time to have that conversation. It won’t be very productive. Ask any man in the room. You can’t bother man bout text message 11:30 in the night. You have to be smart about it,” the Senior Judge said.

The judge said considering the circumstances of the case, she would allow Stevens to pay $20,000 in restitution.

However, to Stevens, she gave the advice, “You can’t allow circumstances to cause you to make a bad decision. No matter how wrong the other person is, they are going to lock you up.”

She also asked Stevens to apologise to the complainant, which he did, before he was admonished and discharged on both offences with a warning not to do it again.