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Eusebio Cal, 25, beats deadly harm charge for attack on policeman at bar

GeneralEusebio Cal, 25, beats deadly harm charge for attack on policeman at bar
Eusebio Cal, 25, a printer with Aligraphics Designs, was acquitted in the Supreme Court of Justice Adolph Lucas last Thursday, by an all-female jury, of a charge of use of deadly means of harm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
  
The jury returned from deliberations after three hours and sixteen minutes, from 12:14 to 3:30 p.m.
  
Cal was charged after a run-in with police constable Eric Patt at La Cabaña Bar on East Collet Canal on November 26, 2009, which resulted in Patt being stabbed in his right ribcage area.
    
According to the constable, he was socializing with fellow officer Victor Tush at La Cabana when a commotion erupted inside the bar and Cal punched him, Patt, in his mouth. Cal then used obscene language to him and grabbed him around his neck with his right hand. 
  
P.C. Patt testified that he managed to push Cal away and that’s when he “felt a punch” in the area of his abdomen and then saw that he was bleeding as blood began to pour down his side.
  
The wound required surgery and a three-day hospital stay, and in court, the doctor who performed the surgery testified that death from internal bleeding could have resulted if there was any delay in treatment, as there was 50 cubic centimeters of blood that was removed during surgery from the liver, before the wound was stitched up.
  
According to the doctor, the injuries sustained by P.C. Patt were consistent with a “dagger knife,” and could also have been caused by a broken pint bottle.
  
P.C. Martin Bahadur, who was at the time working as a security personnel at the bar, said that he was playing billiards when he was approached by a “Ketchi” man who had a Guinness bottle in his right hand. The constable claimed that the man wanted to fight with him because he was angry that he (P.C. Bahadur) had won the pool game.
 
According to Bahadur, Constables Patt and Tush restrained the man, identified as Cal, and escorted him out of the bar outside and took away the pint bottle from him. But then, he said, Cal pushed Patt and picked up an empty Belikin bottle from the ground nearby, broke it on the street side and stabbed Patt with it.
           
He then tried to flee, but Constables Bahadur and Tush caught up with him near the Vernon Street Bridge at the corner of East Collet and Vernon Street, subdued him with assistance from area citizens and took him to Queen Street Police Station in a mobile unit.
 
P.C. Tush remembered witnessing the argument between an allegedly aggressive Cal and Constable Patt inside the bar (he was ten feet away), but claimed he saw Cal with a green bottle in his hand, which he smashed against the wall.  The bottom of the bottle shattered and with the remaining piece, P.C. Tush said, he saw Cal charge and stab P.C. Patt.
  
No weapon in connection with the case was brought to court, and according to Cal, he was not given an identification parade as is his right, despite P.C. Patt admitting that he never knew who he, Cal, was prior to the incident.
  
Cal spoke from the dock in his own defense and denied stabbing the constable, while claiming that he was beaten into unconsciousness after being chased from the bar and getting caught up in a crowd outside.
  
According to Cal, he and two male friends went to the bar to drink and play pool. He watched his friends play four games against each other, then one of them played and lost to P.C. Bahadur.
  
Cal said he told his friend that he, Cal, would now play the constable and beat him, a remark which the friend repeated to P.C. Bahadur.
   Apparently, P.C. Bahadur interpreted that to mean he would literally be “beaten up,” rather than beaten at billiards.
  
According to Cal, his group then went to another table and called for service from a female waitress, but he was accosted by Constables Patt and Tush and accused of harassment, followed by his being ejected from the premises.
  
Cal said that a fight broke out outside of the premises and he was punched. He tried to return the punch but missed, then noticed that the constables were following him. A chase ensued and Cal fell down near the bridge, where he was assaulted and beaten unconscious, waking up in the mobile.
  
Cal called as a witness Dr. Alain Gonzalez, who had treated him on November 26 for injuries to his inner right lower lip and left forehead, classified as wounding.
  
Cal said he never made an official report requesting court action, as, he claimed, he was afraid of being hurt further by police while still in custody.
  
Cal did not have legal representation and defended himself at trial. Prosecuting for the Crown was Crown Counsel Sharmila Williams.

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