National player hits woman with stone after ejection

Ryon Jones, Staff Reporter

Portmore United captain Adrian Reid's ejection from his team's game against Cavalier in the 90th minute at Stadium East yesterday evening was just a prelude to the drama that would unfold.

Reid was shown a straight red card in the 90th minute for violent conduct after elbowing Cavalier's Nigel Reid.

Portmore, the defending Red Stripe Premier League champions, slumped to their second defeat in as many matches after Cavalier came from behind to defeat them 2-1, to secure their first points in the country's top flight after a 16-year absence.

Adoah Nickles gave Portmore the lead in the 55th minute, but Cavalier rallied through goals from Girvan Brown (74th) and a beauty from Claudious Blackburn (79th).

Subject of jeers

Reid, a member of the national pool, was the subject of jeers from the crowd on his way to his locker room, but apparently that of one particular female patron was too much. The woman, who was in the stands, could be heard shouting: "You don't have any behaviour for a captain; you are not to behave like that. You are not setting any example, you don't have no behaviour."

What happened next caught everyone off guard, as Reid aborted his walk to the changing room and picked up a stone which he hurled, hitting the woman in her chest.

"I took my eyes off him and by time I turned I saw his head come back around and, the next thing I know, he threw the stone and hit me," Suzette Martin shared.

When asked about the incident after the match, Portmore's assistant coach, Geoffrey Hewitt, pointed out that the issue would be looked into.

"Honestly I did not see what took place, but we will discuss it afterwards," Hewitt said. "It is really bad to go down to 10 players when you are under pressure and I really didn't expect that from him, if he did what is being claimed," he added.

Portmore United team manager was seen gathering all the players and staff, as a closed meeting was called to which Martin was invited.

When quizzed, one of four police officers who had converged in the vicinity pointed out that a formal report was not made, but they are aware of the incident and were told that it is being settled between the team and Martin.

When the parties emerged from the room, Hewitt refused to comment on what was discussed, but Martin provided The Gleaner with an update.

"Him say him nuh lick mi, him nuh do nutten; a lot of people saw it and he said he did not hit me, he did not throw any stone," Martin related. "As for the team, they said that he should apologise on behalf of the team and Portmore management team."

She added: "I accepted the apology because yu dun know a youth and yu can't stifle dem. I have my son, too, who is the same age, and he and my son are good, good friends.

"He wants to go to some stress management class; that is my opinion," she added.

Yesterday's Results

Cavalier 2 Portmore 1

Savannah 1 H View 0

Waterhouse 3 B Town 0

Arnett 1 H Lion 0

MoBay 0 Tivoli 1

ryon.jones@gleanerjm.com