The Tribune

By FARRAH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MOTHER of seven who failed to report the abuse of two of her young children was on Friday sentenced to four months in prison.

Police said the 38-year-old woman, whose name has been withheld to protect the identity of her children, failed to notify officers of the abuse of her five-year-old son in July.

She was arraigned with a man who was accused of assaulting the woman’s five-year-old and four-year-old sons in a manner causing them unnecessary suffering and injury.

When the pair appeared before Senior Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans, Taylor denied two counts of cruelty to children, while the mother of the boys pleaded guilty to failing to report child abuse.

The prosecution said the father of the two young boys came into the Criminal Investigations Department on July 26, to report that his sons had been physically abused by someone while in their mother’s care. The court was told that the man let his sons stay with her on July 24 because he was travelling to Exuma for a job interview. He said sometime later, he received a phone call from his sister telling him to go to the Carmichael Road Police Station in reference to his children.

The court was also told that when the children’s father was driving there, he saw his boys and their mother sitting in a local park. He said when his five-year-old son noticed him, the youngster ran towards him but collapsed. The prosecution said when the father picked him up, he noticed bruises on his leg. The court was told that when he asked the little boy what happened to him, he said his legs were hurting “very, very bad”.

The father said when he asked his sons’ mother if she reported the matter to police, she told him that she did and that the culprit was already in police custody.

However, the prosecution said when he went to the station, he learned that no report had been made.

Yesterday, the boys’ mother was represented by attorney Keith Seymour. He told the magistrate his client had shown considerable remorse for her actions and accepted responsibility because her boys were in her care. He also said that she was a mother of seven children—with one as young as six months—who would never abuse her children in any way.

In response, Magistrate Vogt-Evans said she found a custodial sentence necessary in the “very disturbing case” because she believed failing to report child abuse was child cruelty in itself. As a result, she sentenced the accused to four months behind bars.

The mother was visibly distressed when she learned that she would be spending time in prison.

At one point, she even placed her hands on her head as she cried and stated: “I’m going to jail.”

Magistrate Vogt-Evans said the tears she was crying in court should have been used when she saw the condition of her children.

“You are only sorry for yourself,” she stated. “My heart is with the children. You did them a disservice to have them treated like that.”

Her co-accused denied committing child cruelty and his case was adjourned to October 22 for trial.

The accused man was granted $5,000 bail in the interim and ordered not to have any contact with the children “until further court order”.

Both boys were also ordered to be taken into protective custody until the case was completed. Magistrate Vogt-Evans also requested a Department of Social Services report on their living conditions.