Senior Magistrate Alex Moore who spare the accused a jail sentence
In the quietude of #78 Village, an uproar pierced the silence as Ms. Orlene Hooper was verbally accosted by a neighbouring couple, much to her embarrassment, after she went to complain about their goats damaging her kitchen garden. There were nasty remarks uttered, and the end result was a day in court for those involved.
Senior Magistrate Alex Moore presided over the matter at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court. In his customary style, he attempted to mediate and broker a solution, and as has become common in his court, rather interesting facts were revealed. Heartfelt feelings were expressed and the tone was thoughtful. It was clear that the Magistrate created a comfort zone. His approach encouraged eventual harmony.
An emotional Indrawattie Roopdeo pleaded guilty with explanation, saying that her goats had indeed gone to Ms. Hooper’s yard on multiple occasions before, but she (Roopdeo) had since secured them better to avoid repetition. She said that the offending goats on this occasion were her nephew’s.
She said that Ms. Hooper had come to her cursing while chasing the goats, and saying that they had damaged her crops. Ms. Roopdeo admitted that in the heat of the moment, she reacted badly and blurted out that “these are not my f***ing goats!”
Ms. Hooper related that she then told the couple that she would go to the station. She alleged that the woman’s husband, Mr. Mohamed Ali, then joined in defence of his wife and told her to “rake ya big p*key s*unt, and give it to dem police let dey help you”. She said that the highly offensive remark was a source of amusement for neighbours who were watching, and she felt extremely embarrassed.
She tearfully stated that – now in her 40s – she had known Mohamed Ali as her neighbour since she was a little girl, and never expected him to utter such hurtful things to her.
Ali followed up on what Ms. Hooper had told the court, by saying that she was like a sister to him – and while he was at first hesitant to admit that he had made the nasty comment, he eventually apologized and admitted that he was wrong to cause her such undue embarrassment.
Ms. Roopdeo then clarified that the goats that had caused discomfort for Ms. Hooper belonged to her nephew across the street, and further explained that since her two large rams were in the regular habit of mating with his ewes, he had goats which resembled hers.
She also acknowledged that she should have been more conciliatory with Ms. Hooper, and then reflected that had the goats been impounded because of the disagreement, the costs for retrieval of the animals by her nephew could have been very high, and that would have been an unnecessary expense.
The parties all reconciled and the magistrate being cognisant of overcrowding in prison coupled with the Coronavirus pandemic, dismissed the matter with no evidence offered.
He was however very stern in his caution to the neighbours to keep the peace and live in brotherly and sisterly love as it is the only way they can truly build their communities and set a firm foundation worth exemplifying by the younger ones around them.