International Soca Monarch and Road March 2011 winner Machel Jesus Montano yesterday denied assaulting three patrons outside the Zen nightclub almost four years ago. The internationally acclaimed entertainer, who has been singing since the age of six, opened his defence to criminal charges levelled against him in response to a reported fracas at the nightclub, with a denial to the allegations against him. "Were you involved in any fight outside Zen that night," his attorney Dana Seetahal, SC, asked him.
Montano emphatically replied: "No." Testifying before Magistrate Maureen Baboolal-Gafoor in the Port-of-Spain Fifth Court, Montano said when he left the club on April 26, 2007 he was pulled aside by three bouncers until he decided to leave for home.
Montano, 36, of St Augustine, added although he was taunted, insulted and cursed at, he never used any expletives. "I just want to make it clear, did you use obscene language at Zen that day?" Seetahal asked.
"No," Montano again said. He said he maintained his cool throughout the attack. "They were saying 'Machel, your mother so and so.' One of them, Jenelle Lee Chee, was very loud, high-pitched, screaming," he said, adding: "I ask them what it is they want with me. Basically, I was saying what it is you blaming me for. What it is I do." Montano returned to the Port-of-Spain court yesterday, just days after capturing the International Soca Monarch and Road March titles.
He was greeted by well-wishers who took "advantage" of the opportunity to meet the soca superstar.
Ironically, he performed on Wednesday night at club Zen, the same nightclub where three assault charges were slapped against him almost four years ago. Montano and entertainers Joel "Zan" Fezeck, Kernel Roberts, songwriter/producer and son of the late calypsonian Lord Kitchener and Rodney "Benjai" Le Blanc are before Baboolal-Gafoor on the charge of assaulting Russell Pollonais. Montano, Fezeck and Roberts also are charged with assaulting Brandis Brown. Montano also faces further charges of assaulting Jenelle Lee Chee and Gerard Bowrin and using obscene language.
The charges stem from a fracas outside the nightclub on Keate Street, Port-of-Spain, on April 26, 2007.
Montano testified that after winning the 2007 Road March title with "Jumbie", the Xtatic band had gone to Zen on April 25 to celebrate its success. He said he left the club and later returned with a group, comprising Fezeck, Roberts, Le Blanc, "Snoop", "Tishard" and his (Montano's) driver, Marvin. Montano said the incident from which Brown, Lee Chee and Pollonais claimed they were assaulted all started inside the club when Lee Chee and another woman came up to ask for a photograph with him.
Following that, he said, another woman from the opposing group, who he later learned was Helen Ganga, came behind him and started "wining" on him.
He said after she moved off, she came up to him a short while later, this time causing him to move away from behind her. "So, I immediately said to her 'no darling, don't get vexed, I'm just not feeling to dance right now,' to calm her down," he said. He said one of his friends, Malika Gonzales, then came up to him and started to dance with him. By this time, he recalled, Gerard Bowrin and Ganga started dancing just one foot away from him. Minutes later, Montano said, he felt the cold of a spilt drink on his body. "All of a sudden, I feel the wetness of a drink falling on me, ice blocks falling on me," he added.
He said Gonzales then told him it was Bowrin who had spilt the drink. According to Montano, he went up to Bowrin to talk to him about the spilt drink. He said Bowrin's back was turned and he "tapped" him on his shoulder to get his attention. But instead, Bowrin "lunged" at him, he said. The bouncer came after he and Bowrin started pushing each other off. Bowrin, Ganga and another from the group were ejected from the club, he said. Montano said he and his friends then decided to leave the club on news that an angry mob had gathered outside to rebuke him. As they exited, he said, he was confronted by Lee Chee and the others, while in full view of Zen owner Johnny Soong and his staff.
During an exchange of words with the women, Montano said he urged them to "go home." He said he was pulled aside by three bouncers, during which time he could hear an altercation with the group of angry patrons. Montano is expected to be examined by prosecutor George Busby when the trial continues today. Roberts is represented by Keith Scotland and Daniel Khan, while Fezeck is being defended by Larry Williams. Rajiv Persad and John Heath appear for Le Blanc.
