Man fined $6,000 for slapping child

Betty Ann Blaine says it's shameful

Christopher Thomas, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:As Jamaica continues to grapple with an increase in the number of cases of child abuse, a St James man was fined $6,000 in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court last Friday (August 31) for slapping a nine-year-old boy in the face.

Woody Evans pleaded guilty with explanation when he appeared in court to answer a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm for the incident, which took place on Saturday, August 4, 2012.

According to Evans, the youngster lit a fire close to his house, and when he was asked to put it out, he flatly refused and instead used insulting words in replying. It was at that time that Evans said he struck the youngster.

"He was burning fire. It was something to burn at the dump," he told Resident Magistrate Sandria Wong-Small. "My son had spread his shirts on the line and the smoke was spreading, and even now it's hurting my head. I told him to put out the fire and he used cuss words to me."

"You should have called his mother's attention to it," the RM said. "If something like this happens in the future, you need to call the parents' attention to it. You can't go around slapping other people's children."

The court was also told that the child suffered a damaged eardrum as a result of the slap. Evans was ordered to pay $6,000 to cover treatment of the injury. Evans was also booked to return to court on September 3.

Reacting to the incident and the court action against Evans, Betty Ann Blaine - founder of child advocacy group Hear the Children's Cry - said the court ruling was a slap on the wrist given the injury sustained by the child.

"A $6,000 fine is shameful for a crime such as that," said Blaine. "That person should be rehabilitated and do community service. That should send a message to the rest of the society that we're serious, but this is like a slap on the wrist. Who is going to compensate that child for that kind of trauma and abuse?"

Blaine also called for child-advocacy stakeholders to come together and decide on strategies to combat child abuse in Jamaica.

"I think it's time for the critical stake-holders to come to the table - the Government, the Children's Registry, our family courts, non-government organisations working with children, and the churches. I think it's time we bring all those major players to the table and decide how we're going to collectively deal with this problem of the abuse of our children," she declared.

"This is our 50th anniversary of Independence. Are we prepared to go into the next 50 with this blight, how we treat our children? It is not acceptable."