WESTERN BUREAU:

A Montego Bay sound selector will know his fate on June 23 after he was remanded by the Montego Bay Resident Magis-trate's (RM) Court for punching a club dancer.

Lester Gooden, 32, pleaded guilty with explanation to assault occasioning actual bodily harm when he appeared before the court on Wednesday.

The court was told that on May 18, the complainant was in the changing room at a club where both she and the accused were employed when Gooden came in and confronted her. He reportedly pointed a finger into her face, following which he punched her in her face, forehead and the back of her head, causing bruising.

Gooden told RM Carolyn Tai that for the past three months, the complainant has been verbally abusing him.

insulting him

He explained further that on the night of the incident, he went to the changing room to summon the dancers, as this is part of his job, when the complainant began insulting him and then slapped him on his hand. He said that this was when he punched her up to three times before heading back into the club.

"You have not described a fight to me, sir. Based on what you've told me, you had no right to punch her," RM Tai reprimanded Gooden. "Would you say you were right?"

"I would say I'm not right, Your Honour," Gooden answered.

"And why would you say you're not right?" RM Tai quizzed him.

"She (the complainant) is just a troublemaker. I should not have given her three punches," Gooden remarked.

"So if you gave her one, you would be right?" the judge prompted.

"Yes, Your Honour," Gooden maintained.

Meanwhile, the complainant refuted Gooden's account of the incident, saying that he was the aggressor.

"He's a bully at work. He acts as if he's the boss of the dancers," she told RM Tai, while adding that she had to seek medical treatment at the Cornwall Regional Hospital.

Gooden was ordered remanded until June 23. He was also instructed to surrender his fingerprints to the police.