Ake v Tzul

• Jurisdiction: Belize
• Judge: Shanks, J.
• Judgment Date: 04 May 2000
• Court: High Court (Belize)
• Docket Number: 294 of 1998
• Date: 04 May 2000

High Court

Shanks, J.

294 of 1998

Ake

and

Tzul

Tort - Assault — Claim for damages — Personal injury — Plaintiff claimed defendant beat him and cut him with a machete — Finding that on the balance of probabilities given the gross provocation the defendant was under his actions amounted in law to self defence — Plaintiff's claim dismissed.

Shanks, J.

1 This is a claim for damages for personal injuries arising out of an assault which happened in the evening of 13 June 1996 in Corozal Town. The defence is that the injury was caused as a result of the defendant's action taken in necessary self-defence. I heard the case on 18 April 2000. Only the plaintiff and the defendant gave evidence.

2 The plaintiff's story was that he pulled up in his van outside “Guns and Roses” restaurant to buy a fried chicken. As he was trying to remove the key from the ignition with the driver's door open and his left foot out of the van the defendant came up and slammed his foot with the door three times and slapped him in the face. The defendant then left on his bicycle but a few minutes later the plaintiff heard him cursing and insulting him and saw that he had returned with a machete. The plaintiff was still inside the van and went to lock the doors. The defendant smashed one of the windows with his machete and then went to the back of the van and climbed in before the plaintiff could lock the back door. He said “Now I will finish you” and came at the plaintiff with the machete. There was no room to swing it but he was able to stab at the plaintiff. One stab got the plaintiff on the inside of his left arm near the elbow and caused a deep and serious wound about six inches long. The plaintiff then grabbed at the machete and suffered a further cut between his right thumb and forefinger. He was then able to pick up the spare tyre (which was slashed by the defendant) and push the defendant out of the van, from where the defendant made his escape. The plaintiff also told me of two previous unprovoked assaults by the defendant; on the latter occasion, which was about three weeks before this incident, he had shouted: “I have not finished ‘til I cut off your head and kick it like a ball.”

3 The defendant's account was rather different. He said he was riding his bicycle past “Guns & Roses” and the plaintiff was standing outside the van. As he passed the plaintiff he started to insult him and pushed him from his bicycle. He went to his van, opened the door and took out a large spanner. He swung it at the defendant and tried to hit him but accidentally hit the side window of the van and broke it. He took another swing. The defendant used his bicycle to fend off the blow. The plaintiff let go of the spanner and it ended up by the side of the road. The plaintiff went to get it. While he was bending down the defendant got his machete off his bicycle and hit him on the back with a flat side. The plaintiff grabbed the machete under his left arm from behind and held onto it. As the defendant pulled it away it cut the plaintiff on the inside of his left arm. The defendant then fled on his bicycle. He also told me that the plaintiff always...