WESTERN BUREAU:

A Maroon Town, St James, resident received bail in the Montego Bay Resident's Magistrate's Court on Friday for allegedly severing a man's hand with a machete during a dispute over rum.

Oneil Pinnock, a 21-year-old farmer, is charged with felonious wounding. He had previously told the court last Wednesday that the complainant had attacked him with a machete after Pinnock intervened in a dispute the other man was having with a shopkeeper.

On Friday, Resident Magistrate (RM) Vivienne Harris was told that the complainant is still in hospital and is expected to be there for another five weeks.

The court was also told that Pinnock's girlfriend, with whom he had previously said he could reside if so ordered, had been contacted and was willing to accommodate him.

RM Harris offered Pinnock $150,000 bail with up to three sureties. As a condition of his bail, he is to reside at Spring Mount and report to the Spring Mount Police Station on Mondays between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. He is also to have no contact with the complainant.

The case returns on October 13.

Allegations are that on August 15 at 9:30 a.m., Pinnock and the complainant got into an argument over rum. Pinnock used a machete to chop the other man on his left hand, severing it.

The injured man was rushed to the Cornwall Regional Hospital by residents, where he was admitted and later transferred to the University Hospital of the West Indies for surgery.