Self-defense claim rejected in conch shell assault

(CNS): A judge rejected a claim of self-defense Friday when he delivered his verdict in an assault case where a victim was hit on the head with a conch shell during an altercation over $2. Following a judge alone trial last month, Alvin Brown from West Bay was found guilty of wounding when the judge said he did not believe his account of the incident, which took place near Al Fresco's restaurant in West Bay last October. Brown had claimed that he and Garfield Powell had argued over the debt and Powery had come at him with a knife, which was why he had picked up the two conch shells and used one of them to hit his assailant on the head.

Justice Williams, however, found Powell's account of the incident, that Brown had launched the conch shell at him in an unprovoked attack, more plausible. During his verdict the judge said the victim's account tallied more accurately than Browns account, with the evidence before the court from CCTV footage obtained from cameras at Al Fresco's Restaurant near to where the altercation took place on Town Hall Road, West Bay.

Following the verdict Brown was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing, which is expected to take place in June.