Man slaps girlfriend for insulting his mother

A Corporate Area man was sentenced yesterday to nine months' imprisonment, suspended for two years, after he confessed to slapping his child's mother, after she told him to "s*** his mother."

It was shared in the Kington and St Andrew Parish Court that the defendant, Andrew Morris, and the complainant were travelling in his motor vehicle when an argument ensued and Morris slapped the complainant in her face, resulting in a wound that bled.

"I went to pick up my father to the doctor and on my way to the St Joseph's Hospital, he said he was going to be across the road and I never see him across the road. Me find him and after that now we driving home and in the Rollington Town area. While in the vehicle, she told me to go and s*** me mada and my father was in the car. Your Honour, I just swing my hand and hit her," Morris explained. Senior Parish Judge Lori-Anne Cole-Montaque asked the complainant if she indeed asked the question.

"You can imagine how offensive that is in front of his father? Why you did that?" she asked the complainant. The woman said that she was asking Morris questions but he was not answering.

"While I understand that it might have been offensive in front of his father, I don't think he should have reacted in that way. There are many instances where it is said and he does not react," the complainant told the judge. Cole-Montaque then asked the complainant if she was seeking to be compensated. However, she told the court that Morris had already accompanied her to the doctor and paid her medical expenses. The complainant stressed that she wanted to ensure that Morris had learnt his lesson.

"Are you fearful that he will do something again, possibly?" Cole-Montaque asked, to which the complainant nodded. The prosecutor outlined that the complainant, in her statement, was fearful of Morris and indicated that she was scared by the rage he was in at the time of the incident. Cole-Montaque then asked Morris if he had previous convictions. He outlined that he was before the courts for ganja and illegal possession of firearm in 2005. He said that he received three years' probation for the latter.

In addition to his nine-month sentence, Morris was made the subject of a fingerprint order.