NASSAU- A woman accused of pouring boiling water on her common-law husband was on January 26 acquitted after the complainant said he didn’t want her prosecuted.
Paul Thurston has since made up with Lesade Rolle, his lover of 16 years with whom he has three children.
Police charged Rolle with causing grievous harm in connection with the November 17, 2021 incident. Rolle, 32, faced up to seven years in prison if convicted.
Doctors said Thurston had sustained serious burns to 17 percent of his body.
But Thurston downplayed the extent of his injuries when he told Magistrate Kendra Kelly he wanted to withdraw the case.
According to him, he’d “bounced back” within days of the incident that sent him to hospital.
The court heard that Thurston and Rolle have been physically abusive to each other during their relationship.
The day before she scalded Thurston, he had reportedly yanked out one of her plaits.
Prior to yesterday’s court date, Rolle had failed to honor the magistrate’s order to stay away from Thurston while the case was still pending.
Rolle admitted to spending nights with Thurston after they had put aside their differences.
Magistrate Kendra Kelly cautioned the couple not to “force” their relationship to work.
She told them, “Neither of you are innocent. Both of you have inflicted harm on each other. That is not a loving relationship. Pain and suffering does not equate to love.”
She urged them to be a good example to their daughters, aged five, nine and 15.
The withdrawal comes as the courts and the police have been criticized for failing to protect victims of domestic abuse.
Just recently, the family of murdered mother Heavenly Terveus blamed police after her fiancé Fenron Ferguson killed her and himself in front of their newborn son.
They got engaged less than two weeks after he shot at her relatives when they intervened in a domestic dispute between the couple on April 4, 2021.
