Teacher beats child with fan belt

ACorporate Area teacher told the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court yesterday that she beat her 12-year-old child with a fan belt because she took $500 without her knowledge.

However, the woman, who pleaded guilty to cruelty to a child, explained to Senior Parish Judge Lori-Anne Cole-Montaque that there was a previous incident that caused her concern. She said that her daughter was at her father’s house one day, supposedly doing online classes but she found her texting on an app.

“When I said ‘Let me see what you doing on the phone’, it just come up ‘Take all of your clothes off.’ Her father was inside his room when she was doing that and I said ‘Come and look what your daughter doing’. He came out and he hit her and I bring her to my house and I never bother hit her, I talked to her,” the mother explained.

She added that on April 26, her daughter went to school and received lunch money for two days from her father. She noted that $500 was placed on a table for her younger daughter but her 12-year-old took the money without permission.

“In the evening I asked her about the money and her father told me that he gave her money for two days. So I say to her ‘That mean say if you go outta road and somebody did give you money, you nah go tell me’ and I just snapped. I grabbed a piece of the car fan belt from out of the road and it me use and hit her,” she said. The mother said that she immediately went to the pharmacy to purchase ointments as her daughter had received bruises and swelling. Cole-Montaque said that she understood the mother’s frustration.

“Because now we have to be policing the online activity and trying to manage paying bills and all sort of things. So I can understand your frustration. But there is a point that you must not go as a parent,” Cole-Montaque urged. The woman shared that since the incident she started receiving counselling. The judge asked for a copy of the counselling reports by the next court appearance. She is to be sentenced on July 12.