Roberto De La Cruz denied hitting a woman with a bottle at a bar in Long Bush when he appeared in Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
Prosecutors allege that on Aug. 19, 2012 Mr. Cruz called the woman and invited her to go out. She arrived at his home, and he later put $10 worth of fuel in her vehicle before the two went to Maria’s bar in Sea Cows Bay, and then Sanjay’s bar in Long Bush, according to the Crown.
At the second bar, “he asked her to dance with him and she refused,” Senior Crown Counsel Valston Graham told the court. “He insisted, and she eventually had a dance.”
But Mr. Cruz wanted to get closer, the prosecutor said.
After the woman refused his advances, the defendant got upset and went outside, Mr. Graham said. Several minutes later, he returned and asked her to take him home immediately.
“She was obligated because he put gas in the car,” Mr. Graham said.
But the two didn’t leave the bar immediately, and the defendant allegedly became aggressive.
The complainant was speaking to a friend in the bar when Mr. Cruz allegedly hit her on the leg with a bottle, according to the Crown. He also “struck her with a fist in the chest,” Mr. Graham said.
Mr. Cruz, a native of the Dominican Republic who was unrepresented in court, pleaded not guilty to common assault. He is scheduled to appear again on Sept. 27.