Something quite extraordinary must have occurred for a mild-mannered man to snap, Defence Attorney James Austin-Smith urged in a sentence hearing last week.
The man he was speaking about, Ronald Argenbright, had pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm. He is 53 and had no previous convictions, the court heard.
After probing further into the background of the case, Mr. Justice Alex Henderson fined Argenbright $2,000 and ordered him to pay the injured man’s medical bills.
Crown Counsel Gail Johnson summarised the background to the charge.
The incident occurred on 27 January 2004 around 2.15pm. The complainant was the chairman of the strata board for the apartment complex in which the defendant had an apartment.
Ms Johnson said the chairman was supervising the digging up of a concrete driveway which had been erected by Argenbright without the approval of the strata committee.
Mr. Austin-Smith later disputed when the driveway had been installed. He said it was there when the defendant bought the property.
According to the Crown’s summary, Argenbright had said he was never invited to any meeting pertaining to strata rules.
Having received an anonymous phone call about the driveway being dug up, Argenbright went to his premises and noted what was taking place. He told the work crew to get off his premises. Earlier he had been extremely upset and phoned police to say he was proceeding to the location to deal with the matter himself.
While he was at the location, the chairman appeared. Argenbright took a T-ball bat from his car and hit the chairman in his groin area and also on the side of his forehead.
Ms Johnson said Argenbright told officers the chairman had tried to punch him and, having done so, was about to hit him again when they were parted by the construction workers. The police came upon the scene shortly afterwards and arrested the defendant.
The complainant received treatment at the hospital. Costs, which included X-rays, injections and follow-up, totalled CI$923.71.
Mr. Justice Henderson asked several questions about the property and the defendant’s finances. Mr. Austin-Smith said Argenbright was not in a position to move.
The judge explained that he was thinking about fining Argenbright, but he wanted the fine to work a fairly significant hardship on him.
The judge pointed out that you can kill someone with a T-ball bat if you hit him hard enough.
Mr. Austin-Smith asked the judge to look at a photograph of Argenbright and the judge agreed that the defendant appeared to have suffered significant injury.
In passing sentence, the judge summarised the situation as it was told to him. Argenbright owns the unit and certain land in front of the unit, on which for years there had been a small driveway. Without notice, the chairman arranged fro workers to dig up the concrete driveway.
If these facts were correct, the workers were trespassing and the chairman was not permitted to act as he did. Argenbright attended the scene and lost control, hitting the chairman with the bat.
In a pre-sentence interview, he had expressed remorse. The judge said the risk of re-offending was low. Therefore the offence did not call for a custodial sentence.
The defendant is to pay medical costs at the rate of $200 per month and the fine at a rate of $200 per month. That means $400 per month initially, which imposes some financial strain, ‘which is precisely what I intended,’ the judge explained.
To the defendant, he concluded, ‘Control your temper next time, sir.’
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