A 56-year-old woman pleaded not guilty yesterday to a charge of wounding Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves during a protest last Thursday that had been organised by the main Opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) and two public sector trade unions.
She will return to court on September 15.
The woman, Annamay Lewis, was granted EC$3,000 bail with one surety when she appeared at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court.
She is being represented by a two-member defence team, including attorney Kay Bacchus-Baptiste, who last week said that his client had been pressured into confessing that she threw the object that injured the head of Government.
The daughter of the accused and other family members emotionally proclaimed her innocence outside the courtroom.
Gonsalves suffered a concussion when he was struck in the head by an object outside Parliament on Thursday during the protest against a move by his Government to have front line workers vaccinated against COVID-19.
“By the grace of God almighty, I am doing well and on the mend. It is confirmed that there are no neurological deficits. However, I have suffered a concussion and must be monitored over the next four to six weeks. But it could have been far more serious,” Gonsalves said as he emerged from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados, where he had been flown for further medical treatment.
“I take this assault as not just an injury, but also look to the intent of the throwing of this projectile at me. The intent was to cause grave harm, even death,” he later wrote on Facebook.