Marvin Gumbs pleaded not guilty to the charge of unlawful wounding when he appeared before the Magistrate's Court on March 6, 2013. Photo: VINO/File

He will serve a total of 12 months in prison from the date of first incarceration for the two offences after changing his not guilty plea to guilty before the Magistrate’s Court previously.

Before sentencing, Magistrate Richards said the attack still troubles the Virtual Complainant (VC) and continues to cause the officer pain. She noted that the crime was aggravated by the fact that it was unprovoked and resulted in injuries to a police officer.

According to the allegations read in court, the accused Gumbs went into Bobby’s Supermarket in Road Town on February 18, 2013 at about 1:30 P.M. wearing no shirt, no shoes and only a pair of khaki pants. The cashier at Bobby’s, upon seeing Gumbs, reportedly became fearful and made a report to an Inspector Jackson who was in the supermarket in uniform.

The cashier, the court heard, had reasons to get the officer because she saw Gumbs allegedly running up and down the aisles removing items from the shelves and disturbing customers.

When officers confronted the defendant, he allegedly took off running down the aisles. The inspector was able to catch up with the defendant, the court was told.

When the accused saw the inspector he allegedly picked up a large bottle of Presidente Beer off a shelf, raised it in his right hand and allegedly charged towards the Inspector yelling: “I tried tell you stop f@#king me up.”

When the Inspector saw the defendant charging he allegedly used his hands to block him; as a result the defendant allegedly broke the bottle on the hands of the Inspector and then ran out of the Supermarket, the court further heard.

Gumbs thanked the Magistrate before leaving the court to serve his sentence.

See previous story posted March 27, 213:

UPDATE: Marvin Gumbs remains in custody for alleged wounding of officer

- prosecutor unsure of psychiatric evaluation

ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – Marvin Gumbs, the man who pleaded not guilty to wounding a Police Officer when he appeared before the Magistrate’s court earlier this month, remains incarcerated for the meanwhile. 

When his matter was called before the Magistrate’s court today, March 27, 2013 Principal Crown Counsel Tiffany Scatliffe related that at the time the defendant’s matter was called previously, the man had not yet been visited by a doctor for a psychiatric evaluation.

She further disclosed that it was unclear whether he had seen a doctor at this point.

Senior Magistrate Tamia Richards agreed with the prosecutor that the defendant should not be kept ‘down there’ (incarcerated) indefinitely.

It was previously agreed that Gumbs would be held at the Police station due to his condition and he would be given an evaluation at the earliest opportunity.

Gumbs is next scheduled to appear before the court on April 19, 2013.

See previous story posted March 6, 2013:

Gumbs pleads not guilty to unlawful wounding

ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – Marvin Gumbs pleaded not guilty to committing the offence of unlawful wounding when he appeared before the Magistrate’s Court today, March 6, 2013.

When the matter came before Senior Magistrate Tamia Ricards, Principal Crown Counsel Tiffany Scatliffe told the court that on February 18, 2013 at about 1:30 P.M. the accused Gumbs went into Bobby’s supermarket in Road Town wearing no shirt, no shoes and only a pair of khaki pants. The cashier at Bobby’s, upon seeing Gumbs, reportedly became fearful and made a report to an Inspector Jackson who was in the supermarket in uniform.

The cashier, the court heard, had reasons to get the officer because she saw Gumbs allegedly running up and down the aisles removing items from the shelves and disturbing customers.

When officers confronted the defendant he allegedly took off running down the aisles. An inspector was able to catch up with the defendant, the court was told.

When the accused saw the inspector he allegedly picked up a large bottle of President Beer from off the shelf, raised it in his right hand and charged towards the Inspector yelling: “I tried tell you stop f@#king me up.”

When the Inspector saw the defendant charging he used his hands to block him; as a result the defendant allegedly broke the bottle on the hands of the Inspector and then ran out of the Supermarket, the court further heard.

The Inspector made a report to the Road Town Police Station and a Sergeant met the defendant in the vicinity of First Bank on the same day at around 3:45 P.M. The accused was informed of the report that was made against him and he allegedly did not reply.

On February 19, 2013 the medical examination form for Inspector Jackson was received and it disclosed that the Inspector’s hand was broken in the area of the fingers as a result of the incident.

The Officers contacted 'Mental Health' and were allegedly informed that Gumbs had been one of their patients recently and that he would have to be formerly assessed by Doctor Samuels before any determination could be made.

Magistrate Richards asked why it had taken 16 days to get Gumbs before the court and Scatliffe responded that she asked the same thing when she saw the file and stated that it was unacceptable and should not have happened.

“I’ve been here every day so I don’t understand why they should treat Mr Gumbs’ freedom so lightly… I notice that is is the new trend now,” Magistrate Richards said.

She further stated that though the defendant might have no fixed place of abode, he had no less rights than someone with a fixed place. She added that the same rights that would apply to "Dr Smith" or herself should apply to the defendant.

When the Magistrate turned her attention to the defendant and indicated that he may have been detained unlawfully during the period he was incarcerated by Police and should seek counsel to represent him, he responded by saying, “Yes, yes, it’s true…”

Gumbs then told the Magistrate that he washes cars and no longer uses drugs, he then offered to pay money for whatever expenses he might have incurred before he was stopped and told he had pleaded not guilty to the charge he was given.

Magistrate Richards told the defendant that there were mental health concerns that surround him being granted bail and the defendant interjected to say: “Most of the time when I go to the Police Station, the Mental Health Department always comes to inject me…”

He added that he was not in a state where he could not remember himself or had any sort of memory loss while claiming that he was never informed about what his condition really was; “They just give me the injection to cool down my temper,” the defendant said.

He was informed that he would be remanded until March 22, 2013.