A woman who beat up a 14-year-old student after his school suspended him and her sister for fighting has been fined, ordered to compensate him for damaging his school uniform and placed on a bond.
Senior Magistrate Colin John handed down the sentence on the woman, Britney Williams aka Brittz a 25-year-old hairdresser, of Paul’s Avenue.
Before handing down his sentence at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court on Monday, John asked Williams why, after the school had dealt with the matter, she met and assaulted the student.
“Your honour, my sister was crying when she called me saying somebody slapped her. As a big sister, I don’t think that anyone should interfere with my sister. And I went to the boy and asked him why he had to slap my sister–” Williams was saying.
John asked the defendant if her sister had told her that the school had dealt with the matter.
“No. My brother told me that she got suspended,” Williams said, adding that she was getting ready to go to her sister’s school.
“I was asking the boy why he slapped my sister. Instead I hear a response like because she did this or because she did that, he telling me to let him go and he done see I’m upset and in a kinda —”Williams said.
“So why you had to hold on to him?” the magistrate interjected.
“I didn’t have to. I make the anger get the best of me.”
Williams pleaded guilty to charges of damage to property and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in connection with her attack on the student on Feb. 28.
The facts of the case, as presented by the prosecutor, acting Corporal of Police Corlene Samuel, are that the virtual complainant (VC), a form 4 student, at a secondary school in Kingstown, and Williams’s sister, who is his classmate, got into a fight around 1 p.m. at school.
The fight started when the VC was standing in front of the classroom door and the classmate came and pushed him, the prosecutor said.
As a result, both students were taken to the principal’s office and were suspended for five days for fighting.
However, the classmate called Williams and told her that she had gotten suspended because the VC had slapped her, resulting in a fight.
About 3:25 p.m. the same day the VC was at Massy Supermarket when an unknown female approached him and held on to his uniform and kept asking him why he hit her sister.
The VC replied, “Miss, let go my shirt first” but the woman, who was later identified as Williams, refused.
Williams continued pulling on the child’s uniform, which tore in the process.
She then proceeded to hit the student three times in his face and scratched him on the left side of his neck.
The VC went home and reported the matter to his parents who later reported it to the police.
The VC’s parents also sent a video recording of the incident to the police.
Williams was arrested on Sunday and charged.
The defendant told the court that she accepted the facts as presented by the prosecution.
The senior magistrate told her that if she was not satisfied with how the school had handled the incident, she could have gone to the police.
“Yes, that is true and I get to understand that yesterday,” Williams said.
“The police told me I should have come to them and they would get the two of them and speak to them.
“And I said, in a case like this, I wouldn’t want to get myself in trouble again. But if it is a case and somebody come and interfere with me first and I defend myself, would I be charged and locked up still?” Williams said.
The magistrate said “we ain’t reach that part yet.
“It is a serious offence when an adult gets involved with school children. Suppose he had a bigger brother or his parents come and hit you back, you could see this thing getting out of hand, right?”
“Yes, your honour,” Williams said.
The magistrate said that is how a situation could escalate into a family squabble because two children had an issue and an adult — in this case the defendant — did not deal with it in the right way.
John told Williams that she had no right to hold on to the student.
“That’s an assault,” he said and told Williams that she was not the best person to deal with the issue because she has her bias.
He told her she could have gotten someone else to deal with the issue.
“Because, when emotions are involved, persons generally do not act in a rational manner,” he said.
He fined Williams EC$300 to be paid in one month.
She was bonded for one year in the sum of EC$500. If Williams breaches the bond, she must pay the sum forthwith or spend three months in prison.
On the damage to property charge, the magistrate reprimanded and discharged Williams and ordered her to pay compensation of EC$104.85 for the damage to the student’s clothes.
“I will not award compensation for the injuries. I do not know the intricacies of what might have happened [at the school] and in the event that he was in fact the aggressor, I wouldn’t want to reward — well offer any reward or any support for any bad behaviour,” the magistrate said.
“I am not saying it was, but, however, they can put you in court if they want to for compensation. They have that option still open to them,” John said.
Why didnt you let her spend a werk in the hotel.
The young man needs to be taught a lesson too.Every day these guys misbehave and no one can rebuke them.
“The fight started when the VC was standing in front of the classroom door and the classmate came and pushed him, the prosecutor said.”
Hey Hyacinth, the above is as quoted from the facts presented in court by the Prosecutor. The VC in this case is the young man. So it appears as if the classmate (the sister) was the one misbehaving and being the aggressor (just like her big sister)!!!
Stop blaming young men for every evil in society.
The way boys be bullying girls in schools and getting away with little punishment is sickening … And of course as parents when it comes to protecting our girls, we go full on without thinking because the “punishment” schools give towards bullying is hardly satisfactory. I have an incidents with my daughter at her school too, and she is a normally quiet child. It’s only after her grades dropped I noticed something was up and she told me everything…. But I approached the principal via email and let them know what is what, and if steps are not taken to make sure my daughter is safe when in the schools care, I would involve law enforcement and my husband, who is also in law enforcement…… That’s how the school got involved into dealing with that. And so far all has been well….. But when the incidents were happen it baffled me why and how no teachers ever were around .. none listened to her when she complained stating things like, boys will be boys or it’s just kids being kids, when my daughter was suffering from the bullying. …. So sometimes the schools are blind to these incidents or don’t deal with them correctly and that can set off a parent easily when their child is being physically hurt in a institution that is legally obligated to keep them safe while present on the compound.
A conversation also needs to be had as to why all these young boys feel it’s okay to beat up, abuse, tease and terrozie our girls like this. And so publically .. and the answer is…because little to nothing is done in way of consequences… They are given a slap on the wrist while the girls get a half hearted sry and live with the physical and emotional damage…while the abusive boys laughs at them everyday bragging most times about what was done and how he get away with it . and that’s what triggers the parents anger about the situation.
Schools in vincy are getting out of control, I see videos of students dancing on desk girls sitting on boys laps, all sort of craziness going on, the ministry needs to look into this matter.
“Bullying” is something never to be taken lightly! There have been few cases I’ve read about in other countries, especially USA, where children committed suicide because they felt they couldn’t endure bullying any longer. In some, if not all of those cases, the teachers and principals did not do much to bring relief to the victims of bullying. How sad!
We certainly do not want any student in SVG to commit suicide because he/she doesn’t want to put up with bullying anymore.
So teachers and principals in all schools, especially Secondary schools, may have to devise a strict strategy to prevent and/or deal with bullying as effectively as possible.