By Elesha George
Bail has been denied for Lester Dyer Jr who is accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend’s lover during an altercation on August 23, 2020.
Dyer was charged for wounding with intent after stabbing the victim seven times with a knife, causing serious damage to his face and further wounding him in the back of his neck.
On Tuesday, High Court judge, Justice Ian Morley refused him bail but told Dyer’s attorney Sherfield Bowen that he would allow him to file a new application requesting bail in October, if he had more evidence that his client would not be a further risk to the lives of the woman who is also the mother of his children, her boyfriend, or any witnesses in the case.
Bowen, who had only taken up the case a few days ago, tried to argue in court that Dyer no longer has intimate interest in the woman, who he had been dating for 11 years and was only interested in taking care of his children for which an application would be filed at a later date.
“He wishes to have nothing to do with her and holds no animosity and is embarrassed of what has become of him associating with her,” Bowen relayed to the judge.
According to court records, at around 8 pm or 9 pm on Sunday, August 23, the accused stabbed his ex-girlfriend’s new partner, after he intervened in an argument between the two ex-lovers.
The knife, which was allegedly used to stab the victim was found outside of the woman’s home by police who were called to the scene. It is further alleged that Dyer brought the knife with him to the woman’s house.
The argument, according to Dyer’s lawyer, was that she had not been looking after the children, and the father discovered this when she called him that day to take care of them.
The lawyer explained that Dyer was speaking with the mother with respect to her leaving the children, when the new partner attacked him and knocked him to the ground.
Bowen claimed that the man was on top of his client when the wound was inflicted in self-defence.
Justice Morley remarked that this was not previously explained to the police, and questioned Bowen on why his client did not chose to give that information to the police at the time.
Meanwhile, Crown Counsel Shannon Jones-Gittens shared that Dyer was known to be abusive to his then girlfriend and often beat her during their 11-year relationship.
In fact, in 2018, he was asked to pay $2,000 to Harvey whose jaw he broke, and an additional $750 to a man whom the woman was found with in their home.
According to a 2018 article written by Observer, Dyer went to the house he shared with his then partner and found a man on the bed. The men reportedly began to fight resulting in Dyer stabbing the victim with a fork.
Gittens deduced that the woman and Dyer had a “toxic relationship”. In her argument she said that the pair had broken up months before the August 23 incident, while Bowen argued that the relationship only ended that Sunday.
He said he had seen text messages to support the claim.
Dyer’s committal proceeding is likely to take place in the St John’s Magistrate’s Court some time in 2021.