A long-running tenancy dispute that culminated in a violent confrontation at a property in West Bay landed a couple in court for sentencing on Monday.
The female tenant, Danya Cardoza-Montero, 45, had earlier admitted biting the landlord on the arm after returning to a rental property with her partner to retrieve her belongings, following a heated dispute in the early hours of the morning of 11 Oct. last year, during which police were called.
Cardoza-Montero and her partner, Brian Ebanks, 55, both appeared in Summary Court before Chief Magistrate Angelyn Hernandez for sentencing.
The woman had pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing actual bodily harm, for biting the 72-year-old landlord while the two were said to be scuffling over a video recording on a mobile phone, and a charge of common assault, for throwing a broom at the landlady, which did not make impact.
Ebanks had admitted a charge of causing fear or provocation of violence, for shouting threateningly at the landlady and demanding money back, which was described in court as the rental deposit.
Describing teeth as “a weapon equivalent, used to tear flesh”, Crown prosecutor Andre Wedderburn noted that sentencing guidelines for the biting offence carried a custody range of six to eight months.
The court heard from defence counsel that the dispute between the landlords and tenants had been ongoing for some time, with electricity being shut off and tenancy agreements not being adhered to. Cardoza-Montero’s defence lawyer described the incident as “a combination of weeks of frustration that unfortunately escalated in the worst way possible”.
Hernandez questioned during the sentencing hearing why the couple had returned to the property in the afternoon without a police presence to retrieve their belongings, after the incident that had occurred in the early hours of the morning.
In passing sentence, Hernandez said she accepted that Cardoza-Montero was in the process of reuniting her family, looking for work and getting her life in order. She delivered a three-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered Cardoza-Montero to have no contact with the victim.
She sentenced Ebanks to a conditional discharge, with a probation order for 12 months, for the charge of causing fear or provocation of violence. She also ordered him to carry out 40 hours of community service.
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