Babymother punched over WhatsApp conversation

A man who became enraged after seeing his babymother's WhatsApp status was ordered by a judge to make compensation for injuries she sustained when he beat her.

Zanu Sibley pleaded guilty to aggravated assault when he appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Tuesday.

The complainant told the court that on April 27, she posted a screenshot of a conversation with a male friend, who invited her to go to a hotel night beach with him. She said Sibley saw the post and felt the man wanted to have sex with her. It is reported that an altercation started when Sibley punched her all over her body, while she held their three-month-old baby.

However, in his defence, Sibley told Senior Parish Court Judge Lori-Ann Cole-Montague that he was angered at more than the WhatsApp status.

JUSTIFICATION FOR PUNCH

"She was being disrespectful from last year October, towards me and my family. I know that it was wrong to have punched her, and I am not justifying it. But on the day of the incident, I called her and told her that I have something for the baby. When I meet her, and I walked off, she texted my phone and told me that if she did know a dis me a carry, she would throw it back in my face and she told me about my mother. She called my phone and told me again, telling me more bad words, and that's when I turned back and did what I did," Sibley, 29, explained to the court. Cole-Montague told Sibley that he would have to pay for the injuries that the complainant sustained, adding that his actions were reckless.

"I can understand you being upset, but Sir, you take it from 0 to 100. You took it too far with all dem punch, punch up and at the end of the day, she is still the mother of your child," she said, before advising them both to find an amicable way to co-parent. Sibley was ordered to pay $100,000 to his child's mother. Sibley started payment yesterday with $20,000.

Before leaving the court, Cole-Montague told them to apologise to each other for their actions.

"It is important that you two be respectful towards each other because that baby that I saw, that child deserves love, that child deserves responsible parents," she said. Sibley is expected to return to court with $20,000 on July 27.