After a night of clubbing turned sour, a man left his girlfriend on the side of a road and later smashed her phone and beat her so hard her face was left swollen and bloodied, Crown Counsel Patricia Hickson alleged during a virtual Magistrates’ Court hearing on Nov. 17. 

Now facing five counts of criminal damage and one count of common assault causing actual bodily harm, Travis Osborne was granted bail of $25,000. 

Mr. Osborne, of Carrot Bay, was unrepresented, and he did not enter a plea. 

The allegations 

After Magistrate Khadeen Palmer read the charges against Mr. Osborne, Ms. Hickson read the allegations. 

On Nov. 14, she read, Mr. Osborne and his girlfriend of five years, the complainant in the matter, went to Deuces Nightclub in Road Town. 

Inside the club, a man asked her for $10, and she “told him ‘no,’” Ms. Hickson alleged. 

The complainant told Mr. Osborne what had happened, but when she followed him to the bathroom shortly after, she saw that his attitude had changed, according to the prosecutor. 

“The virtual complainant, familiar with the way [Mr. Osborne] behaves when he drinks, went to the vehicle,” Ms. Hickson read. 

She then saw Mr. Osborne fighting with the man who had approached her earlier, according to the prosecutor.  

The man then “returned with a machete, heading towards the accused,” Ms. Hickson alleged. Though the complainant intervened and convinced the man to leave, when she and Mr. Osborne got back in the car he began punching her, according to the Crown counsel. 

The complainant “had her hand over her head in an effort to protect her head, and the accused had thrown an object,” the prosecutor read, adding,“Her head then started to bleed.” 

On Main Street 

The couple then drove off, and when they reached Main Street, Mr. Osborne told his girlfriend to get out even though she was wearing only her underwear, according to the Crown counsel. 

When she tried to grab her clothes from a bag in the back seat, Mr. Osborne tried to restrain her and grabbed the bag, Ms. Hickson alleged. 

“The virtual complainant allowed the accused to go with the bag, and walked out and sat by the roadside,” the Crown counsel read. 

Sometime after driving away and leaving his girlfriend by the side of the road, Mr. Osborne returned and told her, “‘You mash up my uncle’s steering wheel,’” Ms. Hickson read. 

When his girlfriend got back in the car, Mr. Osborne told her she would have to pay for the damage and she agreed to do so, according to the prosecutor. 

Sea View Hotel 

After arriving at the Sea View Hotel in McNamara, Mr. Osborne began pulling on the passenger door, Ms. Hickson alleged. 

At about 3:30 a.m., his girlfriend ran inside a room, where the couple argued for another three hours and then made up, the prosecutor read. 

Mr. Osborne told his girlfriend that he would fix the vehicle “and that it was his fault,” according to the prosecutor. 

But when the complainant woke up the next morning, Mr. Osborne said “somebody has to fix his uncle’s vehicle,” the Crown counsel read. 

Mr. Osborne did not like his girlfriend’s suggestion that the man from the nightclub should pay for it, and picked up her phone “and smashed it with all his might,” Ms. Hickson alleged. 

The complainant then tried to grab Mr. Osborne’s phone, but when she eventually got hold of it Mr. Osborne started “to beat her very hard,” the prosecutor read.  

After checking behind the door to see if anyone was watching, Mr. Osborne “closed the door and continued to beat the virtual complainant,” she added. 

With the complainant calling for help, a worker spoke to a manager of the hotel, who came to the room and asked the complainant if she needed the police, Ms. Hickson alleged. 

Police arrival 

Shortly before noon on Nov. 14, a police constable arrived at the scene, noticed a CCTV camera at the entrance of the hotel, and spoke with the hotel’s manager, “who told her certain things and pointed to the accused, who was sitting at the Circle Cafe restaurant,” the Crown counsel alleged. 

The police officer approached Mr. Osborne and “informed him of a report,” she read. 

While walking to the room where the couple had stayed, the officer noticed bloodstains on the ground, and when she arrived in the room she met the injured complainant, Ms. Hick son alleged. 

“Blood was observed on the right side of the virtual complainant’s nose, bruises around both eyes, her forehead and lips were swollen, and there were bruises on her back … and legs,” the Crown counsel read. 

According to the prosecutor, the officer also observed that the room was a mess, with blood on the bed. 

At the station 

Both Mr. Osborne and his girlfriend were “invited” to the Road Town Police Station, Ms. Hickson read. 

After the complainant was further interviewed at the station, she told the officers she didn’t feel well and was transported to the hospital. 

During a roughly 1 p.m. interview at the Road Town Police Station, a police officer informed Mr. Osborne of allegations against him and he replied, “‘Don’t let that girl manipulate you; she attacked me for my phone,’” Ms. Hickson alleged. 

Mr. Osborne was arrested on suspicion of assault causing actual bodily harm and agreed to a cautioned audio-visual interview, during which he confessed to damaging his girlfriend’s phone but denied assaulting her, the prosecutor read. 

The next day, police officers visited the complainant’s hotel room to take pictures of her, as her face was still swollen, and later that day received CCTV footage from the hotel that showed an individual who appears to be the accused walking briskly around a car parked by the hotel’s main entrance, Ms. Hickson alleged. 

A woman is then seen running from the passenger seat to the back of the hotel while holding on to some clothing, Ms. Hickson alleged. 

That afternoon, Mr. Osborne was charged with five counts of criminal damage and one count of common assault causing actual bodily harm, the prosecutor read. 

Mr. Osborne’s story 

Mr. Osborne’s version of events was entirely different. 

According to the prosecutor, Mr. Osborne claimed that his girlfriend “picked a fight” with him in the vehicle, with the woman kicking him while he was driving and even taking his hands off the steering wheel. 

Mr. Osborne also claimed that his girlfriend broke the steering wheel and destroyed the passenger door panel, rug and handle, Ms. Hickson alleged. 

The defendant further claimed that he “had to stop the vehicle suddenly, which caused them both to fly forward and hit the dashboard,” Ms. Hickson alleged. 

“The accused alleged that the virtual complainant was picking a fight the entire ride,” the prosecutor read. 

Cracked phone 

Mr. Osborne also claimed that as the result of an argument, he and his girlfriend began to wrestle over control of his cell phone, and during the struggle had pounded it against a wall, which cracked the screen, the prosecutor read. 

The defendant also alleged that after arriving at the hotel, he sat down on the ground outside of their room because he was tired from wrestling with his girlfriend, Ms. Hickson read. 

But he also claimed that someone from the hotel’s restaurant then came over to the quarreling couple and “pulled the accused away in order to avoid [the] virtual complainant, who still kept attacking him and causing scratches and bruises,” Ms. Hickson alleged. 

After Ms. Hickson read the allegations, Mr. Osborne said he is a Virgin Islander living in Carrot Bay, and owns a construction company. 

In response to a question from Ms. Palmer, he also said that he did not know his girlfriend’s whereabouts at the time of the hearing. 

Bail offer 

Ms. Palmer granted him bail of $25,000 with one signed surety and the condition that he report to the West End Police Station every Friday between 6 a.m. and noon.  

He was also ordered not to “interfere” with his girlfriend.