THE trial involving popular dancehall deejay Bounty Killer accused of using a hammer, a gold chain and mosquito zapper to beat his girlfriend,
was yesterday postponed for January 11, after the woman failed to show
up for the trial.

The entertainer, whose real name is Rodney Price, was arrested in September on a charged of unlawful wounding following an alleged
incident at his Oaklands apartment in Kingston, where he reportedly
attacked his 19-year-old lover, Raquel Smith.

When the case was called up yesterday morning in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court, several calls for Smith went unanswered as a result the matter was delayed for a few minutes.

Price's attorney Christopher Townsend later informed Resident Magistrate Lorna Shelly Williams that he had been told by Smith's attorney
Terrence Ballentine on the last occasion that he and his client might
not be in the island for the beginning of the trial.

As a result, the magistrate rescheduled the trial for next year and issued a bench warrant for Smith. Townsend then asked the magistrate if
his client's passport, which was taken by police as a condition of his
$500,000 bail, could be returned.

However, he was instructed to return to court on November 26 to make the application.

On the last court date in October, Smith indicated through her lawyer, that she wanted the matter to be sent to mediation.

Ballentine said his client and Price had been together for three years and he had never hit her until the incident. He said Smith wanted to
continue her relationship with the deejay.

However, Magistrate Shelly Williams firmly dismissed that notion.

Price's bail was extended.

According to the complainant in her statement, she visited the entertainer on September 15 at about 5:00 am, and while she was in his
bedroom he attacked her. She said he grabbed her by her hair and throat,
pushed her on the bed and started to hit her in the head.

The complainant said the artiste used his chain to hit her all over her body. However, she said she managed to escape and ran into the washroom
but he followed her and used a mosquito zapper to hit her on her right
wrist, causing bruises.

She said the artiste then grabbed her by her neck and said, "Like how u bleeding, betta me jus kill u and done cause that is a sign that you
should die."

She said he then left and went to the kitchen and returned with a hammer, which he used to hit her on her knees and in her head.

The complainant said after the artiste was finished assaulting her, he asked for a massage and she complied as she was fearful for her life.
She said they later went to bed and she got up at about midday the next
day and did some household chores.

However, she said when she was leaving the accused hugged her and gave her US$100 and Ja$2,000.