As he blasted Bermuda for its "bad policing", Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves questioned why it took Police seven months to bring a man before the courts - after he admitted committing two assaults soon after they occurred.

"He confessed. How can you have him go?" Mr. Greaves asked Crown counsel Charmaine Smith as Winslow Arthur John Hollis pleaded guilty to several charges stemming from three separate incidents in St. George's.

Mrs. Smith told Mr. Greaves that on July 27 last year the 42-year-old, of no fixed abode, assaulted his landlord, Lakita Minors, with the intent to cause her grievous bodily harm.

According to Ms Minors, she asked Hollis, who was renting a room in her Sofar Lane home, to remove himself from her premises by a certain date.

On the night in question, Ms Minors said she heard a knock on her bedroom door and she invited Hollis to enter, the court heard. Then, according to her, the man walked over to her bed and punched her in the face, causing swelling and bruising above her right eye.

According to Mrs. Smith when Police questioned him, Hollis, who has no previous convictions, admitted the assault and said he was angry because he had no where to go and that he had heard Ms Minors laughing at him behind his back.

In a separate matter, Mrs. Smith told Mr. Greaves on November 21, 2002, Hollis went to the Wellington Slip residence of his estranged sister, Lisa Marie Hollis, and was attacked by her terrier dog.

In retaliation, Ms. Smith said Hollis picked up the animal and slammed it on the concrete path, killing it. He then got a pick axe and damaged two apartment doors, causing $2,800 in damage.

On February 7, Police attended the residence of Ms Hollis again. Upon their arrival she told them her brother kicked in her bathroom door and punched her about the face and body after. She reported she had locked herself in her bathroom after spotting her brother on the property again.

A restraining order had been in place which banned him from her home.

Hollis admitted all charges placed before him which included wilful damage, breaking and entering and killing the dog.

"I am puzzled by one thing," said Mr. Greaves. "A man committed violence on July 27 and the Police were immediately informed and he admits the crime and is still let go?"

"Is that sufficient to tell a man that he could do it again and get get away with it?" the magistrate asked Mrs. Smith.

When she responded that she understood Police were waiting to locate Hollis in order to summon him, Mr. Greaves blasted the Police process and said: "I cannot understand this foolishness. You were waiting to summons him? Hold him until you are ready to charge him."

While he said he was not trying to upset the Police service, Mr. Greaves criticised the organisation.

"If that is supposed to be policing, it is not good to me. He confessed, how can you let him go?

And then we want to know why we cannot get crime down. The Police need to put themselves in the shoes of the other man. This is poor, poor, poor, poor policing."

Mr. Greaves also compared Hollis to Sampson who killed a man with his bare hands, and questioned whether the Police were waiting for him to kill a person.

Duty counsel Leopold Mills told the magistrate that Hollis was suffering from post traumatic stress although he was unable to elaborate on the cause.

Hollis was sentenced a total of 12 months' imprisonment.