A Devonshire woman chose prison rather than paying a fine after she pleaded guilty to assaulting her boyfriend.

At Magistrates' Court, Senior Crown Counsel Carrington Mahoney told how Carlisha Reneka Tucker, 25, of Cable Hill, caused actual bodily harm to Ralphel Simons, 31, of East Gate Lane, Pembroke, on February 2.

At 11 p.m. on February 1, Mr. Simons was at home and received a call from Tucker, who told him she was coming to his house, before he told her not to come, as she was uninvited.

Later that night, as Simons slept, he was woken up by the sound of banging on his window and knew it was Tucker, the court heard.

He then invited her inside and noticed the smell of alcohol on her breath. During a heated argument, he said he was tired of her showing up unannounced.

While escorting her to the back door, he turned around and felt a blow to his left eye, before Tucker ran out of the house screaming.

After looking into a mirror, he noticed blood gushing from his eye and later went to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for treatment.

Officers later arrested Tucker and took her to Hamilton Police Station, where she admitted assault, but denied she used an object to do it.

His injury required plastic surgery, which left him with permanent scaring and will require him to undergo two years of follow-up treatment.

However, before Tucker could be sentenced, he appeared in court, telling Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo that he previously asked Police to drop the charges.

Mr. Tokunbo said he was not aware of his request and said it was too late, especially since he felt that Tucker did not show any remorse, saying: "We're past that stage now."

Mr. Tokunbo then fined Tucker, who had no previous convictions, $3,000 with 12 months probation, before she erupted: "I'll do time, because I ain't paying $3,000!"

"No problem," replied Mr. Tokunbo, before sentencing her to six months in prison, plus 12 months of probation after she is released.

She was immediately taken into Police custody to be transported to jail.

It was then revealed that Simons had more than $2,000 of unpaid fines relating to an offensive words conviction as well as offences for driving without a license and insurance on more than three occasions.

He was given additional time to pay the fines or spend time at Westgate.