All’s well in the Toppin household.
Yesterday, it was a vastly changed couple who stood opposite each other in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court. Gone were the recriminations and acrimony; in their place were smiles and laughter.
The change was so apparent that even the court commented on it.
Tony Mervin Toppin, a 49-year-old mason of Lewis Gap, Green Hill, St Michael, was back in court yesterday after confessing last week Tuesday to assaulting his wife Rose-Marie Toppin, occasioning her actual bodily harm.
He also admitted to damaging a glass display case that contained 12 pork chops and belonging to her on November 18.
The couple, who have been married for five years, had come to high words in the court as each side traded accusations.
As a parting shot before leaving the court, wife Rose-Marie had declared: “I done with you too.”
“You’re all smiles today,” the court noted.
“Did you give her a kiss this morning?” the court asked.
“Yes,” the husband replied, as his wife all but blushed.
“And the last words you used were ‘I done with you, too’, to your husband,” Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant said to the wife.
“I talked too early,” the wife replied, as those in court applauded loudly.
The husband had earlier admitted he had replaced the display case and compensated his wife for the pork chops.
And after Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant reprimanded and discharged the husband, the couple left the court with the husband embracing his wife.
The court had heard that Toppin, who operates a bar in The City with his wife, had given her $700 to pay rent. However, she went shopping and when she returned her husband asked her about the money.
An argument ensued, which escalated into a scuffle and Toppin beat his wife.
He said he got frustrated when she decided to leave the shop at its busiest time.
However, on an earlier occasion, the woman declared her husband a liar and said he had been drinking all that day. That, she said, was what occasioned his assault on her. (HLE)
