2nd time around: UWI student’s sentencing re ex-gf again delayed

A reported power outage at the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston on Friday led to the sentencing hearing of Matthew Hyde, the University of the West Indies (UWI) student who confessed to assaulting his ex-girlfriend in his dorm room on the Mona Campus in St Andrew, Jamaica being aborted prematurely.

The hearing is expected to resume on Friday, November 22.

It was the second delay in the sentencing proceedings, as last month, High Court Judge Justice Carolyn Tie-Powell was unavailable for the matter.

On Friday, the sentencing hearing got off to a late start due to Hyde being brought to court late.

After he arrived and the hearing got under way, the electrical power went off after having gone off and on before.

The judge adjourned the matter and Hyde was again remanded in custody.

In September, Hyde pleaded guilty to charges stemming from last year's incident which occurred over several days in his room at the George Alleyne Hall on the UWI campus in St Andrew.

Among the charges the UWI student pleaded guilty to were false imprisonment, malicious communication, and assault occasioning bodily harm.

It was reported that from Monday, February 6 to Thursday, February 9, 2023, Hyde held his ex-girlfriend against her will in a room he occupied on the campus, during which he repeatedly beat her and burnt her with a clothes iron on sections of her body.

A report was made to the police after the woman was eventually rescued, and Hyde was arrested and subsequently charged.