Carol Brereton testified, on Monday October 3, that for 20 years she lay in bed in fear of her husband who kept objects under his pillow and threatened to chop her.
The husband, Wayne Brereton, was found guilty of maliciously wounding his wife, and fined a total of $7,500. The trial of Brereton was heard before San Fernando Magistrate Alicia Chankar.
On October 4, 2009, Brereton chopped his wife on the face and left hand at their home at Tarouba, San Fernando.
Carol Brereton testified that she was married to her attacker for 25 years and spent 20 of those years living in fear.
She described their relationship as “sad”.
“Every night I go to sleep, my husband will have something under his pillow. I was scared. He will tell me he will kill me and chop me up. This was going on for over 20 years,” Brereton cried.
The couple’s daughter Canissa Brereton, testified as a State witness. She said she intervened during the attack, but her father choked her when she tried to take the cutlass.
Wayne Brereton brought his mother to testify in his defence.
The 63-year-old grandmother denied there was any argument that day. Brereton also testified, claiming that his wife was cut with a cutlass she brandished during a fight with his mother.
But Chankar found him guilty of the offence.
Asked if he had anything to say to his wife and child, a tearful Brereton told his wife he was sorry. She accepted the apology.
He held his daughter, kissed her on the cheek and told her, “I love you.” The daughter had testified he never told her he loved her before.
Chankar fined him $5,000 for wounding the woman. He was given three months to pay the money or serve 12 months, with hard labour. He was also ordered to pay his wife $2,500 in compensation or spend six weeks in prison.
“I could have sent you to jail, but sometimes that does not help. You need to pay for what you did. You need to get some help. I think one of the greatest steps is that your wife forgave you,” Chankar said.
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