Mother fined $3K for severely beating her 3-year-old child

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By Latrishka Thomas

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A Gray’s Farm woman was fined $3,000 in St. John’s Magistrates’ Court yesterday after she admitted to committing the offence of child endangerment.

On January 25, 2021, the grandmother of the complainant made a report to the police which prompted officers to accompany her to the home of a couple.

There, officers met a woman, her three-year-old daughter and her boyfriend at the residence.

The police told the couple that they are investigating a report of alleged child abuse and, with the permission of the adults, they examined the body of the minor.

They found no fresh marks or injuries at the time.

The next day, the officer saw both defendants in custody at the Gray’s Farm Police Station and said they are making inquiries into a report of child endangerment alleged to have occurred on the 19th and the 22nd of January, 2021 and they recorded a statement from both of them.

It was revealed that sometime ago, the mother beat the child with a belt and spatula so severely that she was left with marks on her forehead, bottom, inner thighs.

The woman said she punished the child because the toddler was listening at the door to her bedroom while she was having sexual relations with her boyfriend.

The couple was jointly charged with the offence and the child was taken from the mother and placed in the care of an aunt.

The female defendant, represented by lawyer Kevon Benjamin, pleaded guilty to the offence yesterday but the man maintained his innocence.

The prosecution accepted the plea, and withdrew the charge against the man.

Chief Magistrate Joanne Walsh described the matter as “disturbing”.

“What she [the child] saw is not her fault; it’s your fault. You have no right,” she told the defendant.

She also admonished the woman against committing any similar offence.

The defendant was told to pay the monies by September 30 or she would be incarcerated for eight months at Her Majesty’s Prison.

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