Father faces charges for injuring 9-y-o accused of assaulting daughter

A Kingston man has been charged with cruelty to a child after he allegedly physically assaulted and injured a nine-year-old boy accused of sexually assaulting his daughter of the same age.

The alleged incident occurred more than a week ago.

The man was arrested and charged after a report was made to the police. He was given station bail and is to face a Corporate Area judge later this month.

Photos seen by The Gleaner, reportedly showing the boy’s injuries after the alleged assault, show him bleeding from his mouth and nostrils.

The child’s guardian told The Gleaner that she was disturbed by what transpired, saying that adults should handle such situations more maturely.

“The both of dem are same age … and to make matters worse, they live in the same yard. How could you hear something and just attack the child and hurt him? Why not talk to him, give him a warning, and talk to his parents? You bring violence to the child. Yes, you are hurt because it’s your daughter, but they are children,” the guardian said.

A senior cop told The Gleaner that the police deal with a lot of alleged sexual offences involving children, mostly during holiday periods.

“That is why CISOCA is important,” the cop said, referring to the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse in the Jamaica Constabulary Force. “[That] arm of the force is not just to investigate and charge, but also to educate. The parent could have contacted that office. They have public education programmes on sexual offences and child abuse in schools, training institutions, parent-teacher associations, and even neighbourhood watches.”

The senior cop said that when matters involve children of the same age, education is the more common option as opposed to pressing charges.

RESIDENTS CONCERNED

One resident of the community told The Gleaner that the incident has sparked concern among the residents.

“We are not in the situation, but just looking at how it started and where it is now, it should have been handled differently. The two children are humiliated, and in these times, we have to be careful how we incite like violence and abuse on to children,” the parent said.

“It’s sad because the both of dem are same age and sometimes children live what they learn in the homes. The situation could have been handled differently. People vex bout it,” another resident commented.

Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon-Harrison told The Gleaner the alleged actions of the father would be considered extreme and were, perhaps, motivated by strong emotions.

“[Parents have a responsibility] to protect and so on, but at the same time, we still have to be very measured. Violence is never a good solution, so for me, that would have called for very responsible and constructive discussion with both families,” she said.

Those talks, she added, would have to include the parents or guardians of both children as they try to find a workable solution “that, first of all, addresses the behaviour that is bothersome, but also, very importantly, look at how they can prevent something like that from happening going forward because they all live in the same yard”.

She said that without a proper resolution, there could be a flow of tension, which could lead to some sort of flare-up later.

“You just never know how things can happen, so I understand, as a parent, the anger, the hurt, probably the feeling of betrayal and just feeling very emotional and kind of reacting impulsively, but it really sounds like that act of violence was extreme because at the end of the day, you are still talking about a nine-year-old child, which is still a very young child,” Gordon-Harrison told The Gleaner.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com