Yuli Hodge appeared at the Magistrates’ Court on Friday morning and pleaded not guilty to assaulting his girlfriend after she refused his advances in bed.
As a Spanish interpreter translated for the defendant, Crown Counsel Herbert Potter alleged that on Dec.18 Mr. Hodge’s girlfriend left their residence in Long Bush and returned home at about midnight.
After she got in bed, she rebuffed Mr. Hodge’s advances, according to Mr. Potter.
“He persisted, but she continued to refuse him,” the prosecutor said.
He added that Mr. Hodge then retrieved scissors from the bathroom and attempted to cut off his girlfriend’s outer clothing and underwear.
The woman screamed for help and struggled to push Mr. Hodge away, Mr. Potter told Magistrate Ayanna Baptiste-DaBreo.
During the struggle, he added, Mr. Hodge allegedly grabbed his girlfriend by the neck, banged her head on the wall, and bit her left hand.
They struggled to the kitchen, where the complainant grabbed a knife, according to the Crown.
Police officers arrived in the midst of the altercation, and when Mr. Hodge tried to block the door to keep them out, his girlfriend allegedly used the knife to cut his foot, Mr. Potter said.
The incident was reported to the Road Town Police Station and Mr. Hodge was charged with three offences:assaultcausing actual bodily harm, damaging property, and being armed with an offensive weapon.
Speaking through the interpreter, Mr. Hodge — who did not have an attorney — pleaded guilty to damaging property and being armed with an offensive weapon, but not guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm.
The couple are still in a relationship but do not reside in the same home, Mr. Hodge told the court.
Ms. Baptiste-DaBreo granted him $30,000 bail with surety. She also ordered him to stay away from the complainant and to return to the Magistrates’ Court at Prospect Reef on July 6 for his trial.