Barbados (Barbados Today) -Magistrate Douglas Frederick, on Thursday, ordered a 41-year-old Guyanese man to undergo treatment for his alcohol problem, after he pleaded guilty to unlawfully assaulting his wife on September 27 and causing her actually bodily harm.According to the facts presented by police prosecutor, Sergeant Neville Watson, the accused, Mark Anthony Ferrel, of Apartment 2,Alejandro Gomez Jersey, Mapp Hill, St Michael, went home on the day in question and found his wife sleeping. He woke her and with some violence jumped on to the virtual complaint and started cuffing her several times about the face and head. She fought back.In an effort to get away, the court heard that the virtual complainant got out of the bedroom, but the accused man followed her and armed himself with a small kitchen knife.Fearing for her life, the woman reportedly took up a bottle to defend herself, but the accused armed himself with a larger knife causing the complainant to run to her son’s bedroom, from where she called the police.Asked to account for his actions, Ferrel said: “I had a little drink, one too much, Sir and the matter escalate. I am very sorry. I had a little too much. I didn’t mean to harm my wife; I love my wife very much. I would like to apologise to her, I am very sorry for what happen,” Ferrel said.However, Ferrel’s wife told the court that he had drinking and other problems.“When he drink Guinness he gets on foolish. When he not drinking, he fair. He follow friends . . . [and] don’t listen to me,” the virtual complainant said.She explained that on the day of the reported confrontation, her husband took up both sets of house keys and “wouldn’t come to open up for me”.The virtual complainant said when Ferrel came home she was upset and told him not to talk or touch her.However, she told the magistrate: “If he change, we can work it out. If he can’t change then I will have to make a decision.”Ferrel was adamant that he could change and readily accepted the help offered by the magistrate who said: “If you love her you have to treat her well. Words and actions are two different things.”The Guyanese man was placed on a bond for six months to attend Alcoholics Anonymous. If he breaches the magistrate’s ruling he must pay $750 forthwith or spend three months in jail.
