Four year old abused by mom - Face left swollen, eyes bloodshot after box

A 20-year-old mother who admitted to abusing her four-year-old son, causing a swollen face and a bloodshot eye, will be sentenced for the offence on July 21.

Shadae Wilson, of a Kingston address, pleaded guilty to the charges of unlawful wounding and child abuse when she appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on yesterday.

Wilson said she hit the child because he uttered indecent language to his grandmother.

"My mother told him to go do something, and he told my mom bad word. I slapped him on his mouth, and said 'Please, stop being disrespectful' and he continued with the bad behaviour, so I slapped him in his face," Wilson said.

She continued, "Because of my nails on my hand, it gave him a bloodshot in his eye and I didn't see it until the next day."

However, the prosecution presented a different account of what transpired.

Child was dancing

The prosecution alleged that on April 25, at about 7 p.m., the child was dancing with other children in the community when his mother grabbed on to the front of his T-shirt and hit him in the face with her right hand about four times, causing a wound that bled badly, a swelling to the left side of his face, and a bloodshot in his left eye.

The presiding judge Simone Wolfe-Reece reprimanded the mother about her actions towards the child. She questioned where he would have learnt the habit of cursing bad words, and added, "You have a responsibility to ensure you teach the child the right way, but the way in which you do it matters."