(Jamaica Observer) A father who cut his 10-year-old daughter’s forehead while beating her, claimed he panicked and ended up stitching the wound with needle and thread.
Kwame Levy, 35-year-old labourer of Princess Street in downtown Kingston, was recently arrested and charged with child abuse.
The Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court heard that on November 26, Levy used a spray tin to hit the child on the head causing a wound which bled. He then used a domestic sewing needle and thread to stitch the wound.
The child was reportedly beaten by her father after she removed a piece of metal from a chair which she had used to create a magnet.
The day after the beating, the child saw her grandmother and told her what had happened. The grandmother reported the matter to the police, and Levy was arrested.
When cautioned he reportedly told the police, “Officer, a piece a board mi use and burst her head and mi stitch it with needle and thread.”
Last week when Levy appeared in court he pleaded guilty to child abuse.
Parish Judge Vaughn Smith then asked him why he had stitched the wound and he replied, “A panic mi panic.”
“Are you a doctor, why you never panic and take her to the doctor?” the judge asked.
Levy then told the judge that he is a father of two girls, the complainant being the older, and that he has been their sole provider since their mother ran away and left them with him when they were babies.
“I am sorry for what I did, I am asking for leniency,” he said.
The judge then ordered him to undergo counselling and told him that his sentence would depend on the report that comes out of those sessions.
Levy’s bail was extended until February 28 next year.
