Doctors are monitoring a 16-year-old pregnant girl who was released from hospital on Friday last after a relative assaulted her and broke her jaw.
Christanta Fordyce was “ill-treated” according to relatives and left in the middle of the road after she was beaten. She can barely speak because of the jaw injury, which doctors said will heal in another 45 days, and while the baby’s heart is beating doctors are insisting on another check-up in three days.
Jacqueline Fordyce, her mother, was fighting to control emotions of anger and sorrow when she spoke with Stabroek News yesterday. The woman said her daughter was beaten by an older male relative, who is a popular money-changer on America Street; he also owns a local football club.
“I can’t really say how this thing start but I was told that he just grabbed my daughter and start kicking she like a football,” Jacqueline Fordyce related. She was a short distance away at her business place on America Street when the incident happened.
Christanta Fordyce wanted to recount her story but was barely audible. Her sister, Ashana who was present, recalled that Christanta was speaking with an older friend of the relative when the beating started. She said her sister called the friend to show him something on a cellular phone when the relative stormed over to her and cuffed her in the face.
The blow to the face broke Christanta’s jaw and she collapsed on the ground. The relative, enraged and shouting profanities, started kicking the teenage girl up and then dragged her into the street. “He keep saying how she always in he business and he kick she up bad,” Ashana said.
It appeared that the relative was upset with Christanta for talking to his friend. He was still kicking the girl up when Jacqueline got word of the incident and intervened. “…I run over and see he wid he foot on she,” the woman recounted.
She confronted the man over the beating and he ignored her questions. Jacqueline picked the girl up and took her to the station before rushing her to the hospital. She said the police went to America Street, but the man was not there; the police are looking for him.
Jacqueline said doctors at the hospital reported that both of Christanta’s jawbones are broken and her nose-bridge was fractured. She said the girl was crying out for pain throughout the hospital visit and later when they got home. Doctors also checked on the unborn child and reported a heartbeat, but were unable to do an ultrasound to determine whether everything is okay with the child.
Jacqueline said it was not the first time the relative put his hands on her daughter and according to her, he has threatened in the past to, “damage her”. She said Christanta and the relative never bonded, and over the years the relationship between the two has been strained.
Last April the man inflicted a severe beating on the girl and left her with marks of violence on her skin. He has also beaten her in the head before which resulted in her suffering from headaches. “He is always hurting this girl,” Jacqueline said.
When asked why she has never reported the beatings, Jacqueline said she was out of the country for a while and was not around when the man hit her daughter.
She said too that some of the incidents were brushed aside because they are family. “I decided to go to the police and publicize this story because he gone too far now,” she added.
