FATHER STRIPS AND FLOGS SON – JAMAICA COURTHOUSE

A carpenter who was hauled before the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court last week for stripping his seven-year-old son and whipping him with an electrical wire, claimed he was beating the child for displaying homosexual tendencies.
The boy, who is currently in hospital, was punished by his 33-year-old father, after he reportedly failed to spell some words that he was given by his father.
The court heard that on June 21, about 5:45 pm, the father saw his son playing with his friends on James Street in downtown Kingston and said to him, “You always on the road playing with pure man” before sending him home to read his books.
The father, on his arrival home, the court heard, gave his son some words to spell, which he could not manage.
As a result, the father instructed his son to take his clothes off, went outside and reportedly cut off a piece of the electrical wire being used for a clothing line. The court then heard that he used the wire to beat his son all over his body. The child ran from the house naked to the Kingston Central Police Station.
The father followed his son to the police station and was arrested and charged with cruelty to a child.
“How many evenings you come home from work and sat with him and teach him to read?” Senior Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey asked the man, after hearing the allegations.
“Almost every evening I give him words to spell and help him read,” the father replied.
“When you were seven, you could enter Scripps Howard (Spelling Bee)?” she asked him, sparking laughter from the court.
The father, in reply, denied the allegations while admitting that he was guilty of beating his son.
“That wasn’t the reason, it was because of some homosexual behaviour that he and the little boys who he was with had,” the father said.
“They are fingling each other penis and wining on each other and their parents are not doing anything about it,” he claimed.
But the magistrate advised the man that he should not have flogged the child and instead should have spoken with him about the appropriate form of sexual behaviour.
“What he is doing is a normal part of growing up, it is called sexual exploration. Let’s say he has homosexual tendencies, what this will do is send him underground,” RM Pusey said.
Furthermore, she said, “If he is going to be gay you could beat him till him dead, he is going to be gay. While we are afraid of homosexuality, beating is not the answer.”
The prosecutor then told the magistrate that the child was still at the Bustamante Hospital for Children.
But the father told the court that nothing was wrong with his son and that the police were just keeping him to run different tests on him in an attempt to make matters worse for him.
However, the liaison officer told the court that the child, in addition to the wounds that he had received from the beating, had several old scars from previous beatings and that he was being kept in the hospital for an X-ray.
“Is just one time a strap him,” the father told the court while explaining that he had used a piece of wire that his son and his friends were playing with.
“They should not have outlawed flogging so that you could feel how it feel,” the magistrate told him before instructing him to undergo counselling with his son. His bail was subsequently extended for him to return for sentencing on September 9.
British teen caught with ganja after visiting male lover
A male escort who reportedly came to the island to have fun with his Jamaican lover but was caught returning home with 14 pounds of ganja, broke down in tears when he appeared in court, claiming he was a victim of child and sexual exploitation.
Nineteen-year-old Phillipe Smith was caught recently with drugs in eight bars of Irish Spring soap and eight tins of Grace Ackee at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.
“I am a victim of child exploitation. I have been abused all my life,” Smith cried while shaking uncontrollably.
“Just calm down and take deep breaths,” RM Pusey said while encouraging him to continue speaking.
“All my life I’ve been a victim of sexual exploitation,” said Smith who had pleaded guilty to drug charges.
Smith’s attorney, Henry Johnson, who begged for leniency before Smith started crying, told the magistrate that his client came to Jamaica on vacation for two weeks in Westmoreland and that on his departure was unknowingly given the drugs.
“He is very distraught and has apologised for his action,” he added.
“I don’t understand, you came from the UK to Jamaica to have a good time and you find yourself in Westmoreland…” RM Pusey said. “You come to Jamaica and you find the bad part, why you never find the good part?”
Johnson, however, beseeched the magistrate to think of his client as a unique case and to give him a non-custodial sentence.
“He didn’t know the stuff was there. He doesn’t even know marijuana,” Johnson said.
But the magistrate was unconvinced and maintained her stance that she was going to extend Smith’s stay in the island.
“You really believe that he came from England and a carry back Irish Spring soap go England?” Pusey asked the lawyer.
She then told the lawyer that while she could understand that Smith had certain problems in his home country she had her own “border problems” in Jamaica.
“People think when you come here is just love and joy and the handcart bwoy,” she said before sentencing Smith to 18 months in prison. She also ordered him to pay $15,000 for possession of ganja, or serve six months; $45,400 for dealing in ganja, or six months; and $113,500 for taking steps to export ganja, or six months.
No evidence was offered on the charge of conspiracy to export ganja.
Man swaps fake designer watches for cash
An ex-con who tricked a businesswoman and gave her two fake designer watches after collecting US$2,000 from her, was warned by the magistrate to change his ways or he will be going away for a long time.
The fraudster, Jason Kameka, who was released from prison in June and is back before the court on fraud charges, was warned by RM Pusey that she would be making a recommendation for him to be charged as a habitual offender on the next occasion he pleads guilty before her.
Kameka was given the warning by the magistrate after he pleaded guilty to larceny by trick.
“You have no intention of stopping and you have such an innocent face you’d fool me too, but I am going to ride this horse myself. So pray that you don’t see me up here sitting on your next plea; pray without ceasing,” RM Pusey told Kameka.
He was then remanded for sentencing on July 30, when his lawyer, CJ Mitchell, is expected to be present in court.
Kameka was arrested and charged after he took the complainant’s money and promised to sell her Cartier and Hublot watches.
According to the complainant’s report, Kameka, who peddles clothes and jewellery with his girlfriend, visited her on June 26, and she purchased some items from him. However, the complainant said while she was making the purchase, Kameka told her that he had two designer watches that he could sell her for US$5,000.
The complainant made an agreement with him to pay $2,000 when she received the watches and to give him the remainder after she verified their authenticity.
The following day, the complainant met Kameka and gave him the money after collecting the watches, but soon after found out that they were fake when she went to a jeweller to find out if the watches were authentic.
She then contacted Kameka and he apologised to her and promised to bring the money back, but to date the complainant has not received her money.
Robber claims he was forced by gunman to steal cellphone
Laughter erupted in the court on Thursday after a man told the magistrate that a gunman threatened his life and forced him to rob a woman of her Samsung Galaxy 3.
The complainant was robbed of her cellular phone by Obafani Hyman while shopping in Coronation Market, downtown Kingston, on July 17.
However, when the 24-year-old man appeared in court, he told RM Pusey that he had not intentionally robbed the woman.
“A gunman hold mi up and force mi to do it, and tell mi seh if mi nuh dweet dem ago kill me,” he said, sparking laughter from people inside the court.
“So why you never tell that to the police?” RM Pusey enquired.
“Me tell dem seh is a double O5 hold me up,” Hyman said, eliciting more laughter from the court.
“I don’t buy that bout gunman hold you up; tell you what, do three months,” Pusey told Hyman, who had earlier pleaded guilty to larceny as a servant.
The court heard that the complainant was shopping in the market when Hyman grabbed her phone from her bag and ran. The complainant made an alarm and Hyman was chased and held with the device, valued at $60,000.
Interestingly, Hyman had made the same report to the police when he was held.
According to police report, Hyman, when cautioned, had said, “A wan youth whey name Lance force mi fi do it; boss, me sorry. Offica, if mi never dweet him wud a kill mi.”
He also told the police, “A fear mek mi dweet.”
Doctor freed of assault charge after wife drops case
Our story on July 13 reporting on the court case between Dr Charlton Collie and his wife Claudette Crooks-Collie incorrectly stated that the magistrate dismissed the assault charge against Dr Collie because his estranged wife could not produce any evidence to substantiate the charge.
The charge was in fact dismissed because Mrs Crooks-Collie did not wish to proceed further with the matter. Her decision, her lawyer told us, was driven by her concerns for the couple’s child.
The story also reported that the complainant had stated in court that her husband had hit her so hard that she passed out.
The correct report is that the court was told that Dr Collie hit his wife so hard that she almost had a blackout.
We regret the errors.
ADVERTISEMENT