A man was yesterday fined $15,000 for slapping his ex-partner, while his allegations about the sexual abuse of his stepdaughter prompted a court to order an investigation.
Although Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton imposed the fine with the alternative of a 10-day prison sentence on the man, she also ordered an investigation into his allegations, including the claim that the underage girl is now pregnant.
At the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court yesterday, the man admitted to committing the June 23, 2012 common assault on the woman, with whom he has children. They were no longer living together when the assault occurred.
Police Corporal Simone Payne said that on the day of the assault, the defendant saw the woman speaking with another man, with whom she has children. He subsequently went up to her, called her a “cross” and slapped her in the face. The woman later reported the incident to the police, leading to the defendant’s arrest.
When given a chance to speak, the defendant told the court that the woman’s current partner has been sexually abusing her daughter and he wanted to speak to her about the situation.
As he was doing so, he said that she began pointing her hand in his face and he slapped her face. Additionally, he said, he told the woman that she is a “wicked woman to her daughter and her children.”
The man told the court that although the girl, said to be either 14 or 15, is not his child, he had raised her from a tender age and was concerned about her wellbeing.
Magistrate Octive-Hamilton asked the man if he had made any report of the alleged abuse to the police or the Child’s Welfare Department. He explained that he did not, since the mother was always threatening to have the police “lock me up”.
The magistrate bemoaned the fact that the defendant did not report the allegation to the police, especially in the light of his concern about the girl’s welfare. She stressed that such allegations should always be reported to the relevant authorities for the necessary investigations to be done.
When asked by the magistrate if he had witnessed the sexual abuse committed on the child, the defendant responded in the negative. According to him, he saw the child sitting in the man’s car on one occasion. It was at this point that he said the teen was pregnant.
But the magistrate cautioned that the child could have been in the man’s vehicle for various reasons. Nevertheless, in the light of the allegations brought to the attention of the court, Magistrate Octive-Hamilton ordered that a thorough investigation be launched.
A probation officer, who was in the courtroom at the time, was tasked with this responsibility. She also ordered the intervention of the Child Care and Protection Agency to ascertain the merit of what was told to the court.
