Cortez Simmons, who was acquitted of murder in the Supreme Court about a month ago, has been slapped with ten charges by the police following an incident involving a woman along Airport Road in Providenciales on Saturday, April 26.
As a result of the incident, he was charged with one count of theft, one count of malicious destruction of property, one count of assaulting a female, one count of malicious injuries to property, two counts of escaping lawful custody and two counts of assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.
Simmons was charged with two other men – Kendal Handfield and Javardo Handfield. Kendal Handfield was charged with obstruction, while Javardo Handfield was charged with assault and obstruction.
The allegation is that Simmons and a woman of Dominican nationality had a disagreement, during which he allegedly assaulted her and in the process destroyed properties belonging to her. The police were called in to investigate, and while they were in the process of accosting him, he assaulted them before escaping. The police said the two other men who were involved in the fracas were also charged.
The three, who appeared in court on Tuesday, May 6 to answer to the charges pleaded not guilty, and were each granted $70,000 bail. Simmons and his co-accused are to return to court on October 20 later this year, when a four-day trial date is scheduled to begin.
Simmons was represented by attorney-at-law Peter McNight, while Kendal and Javardo Handfield were unrepresented. Not only did the three plead not guilty of the charges, but noted that they were in fact the ones who were abused by the police, telling the court that a complaint has been lodged against the police personnel involved in the incident.
Simmons was freed of the gun murder of Shamard Ingham, who was shot in the yard of an apartment occupied by Simmons located off Windward Road (Glass Shack) on February 23 last year, after Ingham had gone to the premises to mediate a dispute between Simmons and a cousin.
