A West Bay man is awaiting sentence for wounding with intent after being found guilty of injuring his nephew in a violent machete attack.
Eladio Chesley Brown struck his victim several times about the body and head in the assault after an evening of drinking in January.
With Brown looking on via video link, Crown prosecutor Alexander Barbour read the facts surrounding the incident before Justice Cheryll Richards in Grand Court on Friday, 28 July.
He said on 25 Jan. at about 10pm the victim, Brown’s nephew, was at home in West Bay when his female cousin arrived with two other women and they began drinking
He called Brown and invited him to join them at the house. His cousin – Brown’s daughter – and her friends left to collect him and brought him back.
At about 11pm they all left to meet a few friends in George Town. Brown and his nephew drove in one vehicle while the women were in another.
They stopped for a while at Welly’s Cool Spot where everyone except the victim drank alcohol. On their return to West Bay, they stopped at Kelly’s Bar and drank more.
They stayed at the bar until about 2am, when the cousin’s friends said they wanted to go back home.
When the victim told his uncle, Brown became upset and started cursing at him, saying he did not want him to ‘get anything’, Barbour told the court.
They all drove to the women’s home in West Bay. After the women went inside, Brown got out of the car saying he did not want to drive with his nephew any more and insulted him.
He got into his daughter’s car and they drove towards Brown’s home when his nephew called his cousin. He said he heard his uncle loudly cursing at her and heard her scream.
The victim said he believed the scream was because Brown had hit her, so he drove alongside her car until it stopped and got out to approach his uncle in the passenger seat.
He told him to make sure anything like that did not happen again, but Brown ‘kissed his teeth’ in response. His nephew got back in the car and they drove towards Brown’s home.
Multiple machete blows
Once there, Brown got into an argument with his daughter – he was shouting at her and then dragged her by her hair and shirt into the house, Barbour said.
Concerned for his cousin’s welfare and because of his uncle’s violent nature, the victim armed himself with a machete and banged on the door of the house.
His intention was to prevent the defendant from committing further acts of violence, the prosecutor told the court.
When Brown answered, he also had a machete and he swung the weapon at the victim and cut him deeply on the shoulder.
He hit him again causing a deep cut on his forehead and he fell to the floor. Brown struck his nephew with the machete two more times, on the chest and jaw.
Emergency surgery
“One of these blows caused a laceration to the right side of the complainant’s jaw running from his ear to his chin,” Barbour said, adding photos of the injury are “vivid and graphic”.
The victim then fled the scene and made a report to the West Bay Police Station before being taken to Cayman Islands Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.
Brown was arrested that evening. In an interview, he admitted he was involved in the violent incident but said he was attacked by the victim, who was armed with a machete.
The defendant said that all times he was acting in self-defence, the prosecutor said.
Brown was convicted after trial of wounding with intent. The maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
Barbour said the level of harm caused by the attack was serious and two of the blows were while the victim was on the floor unable to defend himself.
However, he said the victim was able to get himself away from the scene and the initial medical report said the effects of the injuries are unlikely to be permanent.
‘Extremely painful’
Brown’s nephew said the attack impacted him emotionally and physically on a significant level, the prosecutor said. His jaw was broken and he required facial surgery.
He described his injuries as ‘extremely painful’, Barbour said, and that the pain was a ’20 out of 10′. The victim had to attend the hospital for several follow-up appointments.
He also has substantial and permanent scarring on his face, shoulder and chest.
The victim said the experience was ‘very disturbing’ and added, ‘I can never trust anybody again. If my own uncle would do that to me, what would a stranger do?’, Barbour told the court.
The aggravating factors include the presence of others and the ongoing effect on the victim, the prosecutor said.
Mitigating factors include mental illness or disability on the basis of a psychological report which says Brown has cognitive impairment associated with an intellectual disability.
Defence attorney John Furniss said the victim had been “chopping” on Brown’s door with his machete before the incident.
He added that alcohol was a major factor in the attack, and reminded that the effects of the injuries will not be permanent.
Richards will sentence Brown on 11 Aug.
Related Videos
