Salim and Damion Browne will be sentenced on 26 Feb. after being convicted last week for causing grievous bodily harm.

A 12-member jury returned with the unanimous decision following deliberations.

The Browne brothers were accused of injuring Elroy Edwards.

Edwards during the trial testified that on 5 Jan., 2009, he was told that something had happened to his sister. He said, as a result, he rushed to the Emergency Department at the Holberton Hospital and that while there an ambulance arrived and his sister, Kendra Pryce, was wheeled in on a trolley. Edwards testified that his sister had her eyes closed and was unresponsive when he called out to her.

The witness told the court that he went into the Casualty Department to be with her (his sister) after which Damion came into the room. Edwards said the defendant threatened him and added that he decided to leave the room and stand near the secretary’s desk. He told the court that both brothers later attacked and beat him.

“I was standing near the iron post and I saw Kip (Salim) and Damion at the phone booth. Salim came and thump me at the side of my face and I hit him back,” Edwards said. The witness testified that he and Salim started to fight and added that when he (Edwards) got the upper hand and was sitting on top of Salim punching him, his (Salim’s) brother Damion joined the fracas. Damion, he said, came and kicked him on the side of his face and that his head hit the wall.

“The two of them started kicking me on the side of my face and then I don’t remember nothing else,” Edwards told the court. He said he subsequently regained consciousness in Casualty Department. “…and (I) was treated by doctors at the hospital after waking up in a wheelchair.”
Attorney Cosbert Cumberbatch, who represented Salim, questioned Edwards as to whether he approached Salim and put fists in his (Salim’s) face.

Edwards denied the allegation and that he was the aggressor. He said he and the brothers were asked to leave the emergency room because they were arguing.

He said he did not want to leave because his sister was still on the trolley in the emergency room. Evansha Nelson, another of the prosecution’s witnesses said she saw Salim punching Edwards and they began fighting.

Nelson said Damion later joined the fight and added that both brothers began to kick Edwards who had fallen to the floor. She testified that they kicked the victim for about four minutes and after seeing the police ran from the area. Nelson said she went to Edwards’ assistance and observed that the left side of his face was swollen. Several other people at the hospital at the time went to Edwards’ assistance. Cumberbatch applied for bail on behalf of his client pending sentencing. The attorney said Salim is employed as an accounts clerk at the Mount St. John Medical Centre (MSJMC) and may lose his job if he is remanded.

Despite strong objections by Crown Counsel, Adlai Smith, to the effect that that “particular course is unusual and rare and does not satisfy the legal pre-requisite of exceptional circumstances,” Justice Mario Michel granted both accused bail.

While Damion, who is represented by attorney Steadroy “Cutie” Benjamin, opted not to give evidence in his own defence, his brother Salim took the stand and gave his version of what transpired at the hospital that day.