Mother and daughter fight over furniture

Paulette Murray, 54, and her daughter Tamara Lee, 29, hugged each other in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court yesterday as they answered to charges of assaulting each other.

Parish Judge Lori-Ann Cole-Montague asked Lee to show her mother some affection through the gesture as a means of dissolving their ongoing tension.

"How did you guys feel after that hug? Cole-Montague asked them. "I felt wonderful," the mother responded. "It was lovely," said Lee.

"You see what I'm talking about? Is just the small things like these that can fix big situations," said the judge, addressing the women.

Murray said that in the March 17 incident, her grandchildren (Lee's children), were making noise in the family home with a table and hassock belonging to Lee. Murray admitted that she threw the items, after which Lee came into the yard. An argument started and Murray said Lee hit her several times all over her body, resulting in chest pain and a bruise on her forehead.

In her defence, Lee said that after realising that her table and hassock were damaged, she threw her mother's plastic bucket, causing it to break. She said Murray then walked up to her and hit her several times in her head and other parts of her body were bruised.

"Do you want to continue with the matter against your daughter today, Miss? Are things OK at home?" the judge asked Murray.

"Your Honour, we are good now and my grandchildren are fine," she said. Murray, however, demanded that Lee compensate her for the bucket. She received $1,000, which was signed over in court.

"Both of you are mother and daughter and it doesn't look good to be in court. It just tell me that you are not living good. Live good at home because you two need each other more than you know," Cole-Montague advised.