Case dismissed against couple accused of child abuse

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By Latrishka Thomas

[email protected]

A couple accused of child endangerment have had their three-year-old case dropped due to lack of evidence.

The pair were brought before the court in 2020 for allegedly endangering their son when he was 15 by severely beating him on July 28 that year.

After months of waiting, the trial against the duo began in October 2021.

It consisted of testimony from the child who told the court that he had received 65 “strokes” from his father on one of his hands after his stepmother kept a tally of punishments that were due to him for alleged misdemeanours until his father could administer them.

He said that he typically got 15 to 20 lashes for serious wrongdoing.

But one night he got 65 blows, compiled for things he’d apparently done while his father was away, he said.

He disclosed that he was being punished because he stole a donkey, lied, and did not stop his brother from taking a bucket that they used to hold sugar cane before selling it.

But other witnesses including the police failed to give satisfactory testimonies of the alleged abuse.

Last month, the prosecution finally closed its case against the couple prompting the defendants’ lawyer Saska Diamond to make a ‘no case’ submission.

Although the trial took place – on and off – for more than a year, enough evidence was not presented to convict the duo.

Chief Magistrate Joanne Walsh therefore upheld the ‘no case’ submission, freeing the defendants.

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