Judge in Barbados orders father to pay compensation to daughter

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – A High Court judge in Barbados has ordered a father to pay BDS$15,000 in compensation to his daughter after he placed her hand on a lit stove burner as punishment for stealing almost six years ago.

Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell also sentenced Albert Anecitus to nearly three years in jail, but suspended the sentence for three years.

“The court recognises that while parents have the right to discipline their children, that discipline should never be to the level of abuse, and let there be no doubt that what happened in this case is abuse,” she said.

The father had pleaded not guilty to the more serious charge of causing serious bodily harm with intent to maim, disfigure or disable his 12-year-old child but admitted to unlawfully and maliciously inflicting serious bodily harm on her on July 17, 2018.

The judge, citing Article 9 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child, said governments must do all they can to protect children from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and bad treatment by their parents or anyone else who looks after them.

“No matter how frustrated a parent may be about the anti-social predilection of a child to steal, the answer to that problem can never be abuse. There are agencies like the Probation Department, the Juvenile Liaison Scheme... to assist parents with these challenges,” Justice Smith-Bovell said.

She said that a custodial sentence was justified in the case, outlining the aggravating factors of the offence, including the child's age, that the crime was committed by her father who has the responsibility of protecting her, the type of injury inflicted, the father's decision to send the girl's brother out of the kitchen so he could not witness the act, and the fact he did not seek medical attention for her or inform her mother that she had been injured.

The sole mitigating factor was that the man placed his daughter's hand in cold water and ice after the incident, which would have reduced the degree of the burn.

The 17-year-old child has expressed a desire to rebuild a connection with her father and that he not be incarcerated for the offence.

The judge said the court was of the view that the relationship should be maintained and, therefore, applied Section 6 of the Penal Reform Act to allow the jail sentence to be suspended.

In ordering the compensation, the judge noted that the complainant had several surgeries and was left with a scar on her hand.

“A scar which, every time she looks at it, will remind her that her father, the person who is supposed to guide and protect her, is the person who inflicted it on her. The scar also serves as a reminder for the rest of her life as to the reason why he did it when she may no longer be that person today.

“In light of the injuries and the physical, psychological and emotional pain suffered by the complainant, the court considers the sum of $15, 000 to be reasonable compensation in the circumstances,” Justice Smith-Bovell said, ordering the father to pay BDS$8,000 forthwith, with the balance to be settled by October 31.

She said failure to do so would see him heading to Dodds Prison for the two years and 363 days.

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