By Paul A. Reid, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
A MONTEGO Bay couple was remanded in police custody yesterday when they appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on charges of tying up and torturing a male employee who is alleged to have carnally abused their 10-year-old daughter in their Coral Gardens home.
Well-known Montego Bay businessman and musician 42-year-old Hartford 'Mozo' Montague and his wife, Maureen, 38, are facing several charges stemming from an incident that reportedly took place between May 12 and 13.
Resident Magistrate, Ms. Valerie Stephens, revoked Mr. Montague's $35,000 station bail while his wife was also ordered remanded. The judge also instructed that Mrs. Montague be charged with illegal possession of firearm after she allegedly loaded her husband's licensed 9mm pistol and pointed it at the accused man, 23-year-old Omar James, threatening to shoot him.
James has, in the meantime, denied the allegations against him.
Mr. Montague is charged with unlawful wounding while he is charged jointly with his wife with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, simple larceny and malicious destruction of property.
Mrs. Montague is to be brought to court today after attorney-at-law, Mr. George Thomas, explained to the court that her daughter was alone with just the helper and an older sister and needed her mother.
Mr. Montague will return to court on Thursday while James will return on June 2 when charges against him will be mentioned.
The allegations against James are that he abused the child on two occasions while she was in his room watching television. On the first occasion, some time in April, he was alleged to have held unto her and removed her clothes and was sucking on her breast and was trying to take off more of her clothes when he heard footsteps and stopped.
It was alleged that on May 8 this year the child was left at the home with just the helper and James and she was watching television in his room again when he held her down and sexually assaulted her.
She reported it to her parents on May 12.
Mr. Thomas told the court, however, that the child was never in James' room but was in her own bedroom when both assaults were alleged to have talked place.
The court also heard that between 6:30 p.m. when the Montagues heard of the attack and 7:30 the next morning, they tied up and tortured James and inflicted a number of wounds all over his body.
The court heard that they stripped him naked and burned his clothes then used a hammer and other implements to beat him all over his body, including his penis, his shoulders, neck and knees. He also suffered a cut to his right foot and was beaten in the palm of his hands and the back of his head.
The court heard that they took away all his documents, including his passport, birth certificate, voters' identification and cell phone.
The police were alerted and they went to the home and found James tied up. They released him and took him to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where he was admitted for one day.
Thomas told the court that the allegations were "exaggerated", denying Mrs. Montague ever touched the firearm. He also said that it was the Montagues who called the police after the Crisis Centre did not respond to their calls.
While he was not condoning what might have happened, the attorney said the parents were also traumatised by the incident.
