NASSAU, BAHAMAS — During the continuation of an ongoing trial against six former employees of the Bahamas Children’s Emergency Hostel, one 11-year-old boy who testified insisted that while they were misbehaving on the day in question, the punishment didn’t fit the act.
The matter continued yesterday before Magistrate Kendra Kelly who heard testimonies from two additional children who were reportedly beaten on the day in question.
One of the child witnesses, who said he has lived at the home for nearly seven years, admitted that the children were in the dining room making noise even after being told to stop talking.
The sixth-grader told the court that they went into the sickbay after lunch and shortly after several children were told to line up back in the dining room to get punished.
He identified multiple children and all of the defendants as being in the room during the time of the incident, and further pointed to Sabrina Smith as the person who beat him.
He indicated that he was beaten with an item that came off of “a baby’s playpen” and described it as a stringy thing, that bounced off his hand when he was hit with it.
“I didn’t feel good because I was only getting beaten for a simple thing,” the young boy said.
He noted that he did cry after being punished and when asked why he cried, he said, “because I was getting beaten”.
The minor witness explained that after being punished he sat down until he was told to “sweep up the tamarind switch off of the floor.”
He also told the court that it was not the first time he was beaten by staff at the facility, but he couldn’t remember when or where he was punished the first time.
During cross-examination of the child, Wallace Rolle, attorney for Smith, asked the boy whether he believed people who are rude or do something wrong should be disciplined or whether children who don’t follow instructions should be spanked.
He responded to the question by saying “that wasn’t any normal spanking” but when prompted again on whether wrongdoing should have consequences, he said, “yes sir”.
Rolle then asked the boy whether he knew what cruelty meant, to which he responded, “cruelty is when somebody isn’t being treated like how they are supposed to be treated”.
The child further told that court that he “wasn’t doing anything bad, just talking”.
But Rolle continued with his questioning, asking the child if an adult tells him to stop talking, if he should stop talking, to which the young boy responded, “our noise wasn’t loud”.
He admitted however that he and the other children didn’t stop talking.
The 11-year-old said he couldn’t remember where he got beaten on his body, and indicated that he went to the doctor after. However, he wasn’t sure how long after the matter occurred that he was taken there.
When asked whether he believes Smith and the other workers at the home cared about him, the young boy said yes, indicating that she is a nice person “sometimes”.
The child further indicated that he didn’t have unnecessary suffering.
He was also questioned by Barry Sawyer, attorney for Eloise Canter, who asked whether he received any cuts or needed medical treatment, to which he said no.
While Sawyer asked if the “little beating” he received had him suffering, the boy insisted that “it wasn’t little”.
When asked once again about his feelings about the punishment, the 11-year-old said “I didn’t feel good about the punishment because we simply were only talking”.
The other 11-year-old boy to testify yesterday, recounted a similar story, indicating that he was beaten on his buttocks by Smith.
He also admitted that he was still making noise after being told to be quiet and when pressed by Rolle on what he understood discipline to mean, he said: “Discipline means you discipline a child so they don’t do wrong things.”
The young boy however said he didn’t know if the discipline was cruel and couldn’t explain his emotion on how he felt.
The employers are being accused of cruelty to children in connection to a video that went viral in January 2021 purportedly showing the women verbally scolding and physically striking a group of young children.
The matter returns to court tomorrow at 12 noon, where there are expected to be testimonies from two additional children and two responding officers, one of whom may introduce into evidence the viral video.
Eloise Canter, 53; Carmetta Woods, 47; Natasha Pratt, 46; Occonelle Gordon, 25; and Sabrina Smith, 61, were charged with 11 counts of cruelty to children and all pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Shawn Seymour, 42, was charged with 11 counts of failing to report the abuse of a minor and also pleaded not guilty to all of the counts.
The prosecution alleged that on September 22, 2020, the women unlawfully physically abused nine boys and two girls in their care and custody, in a manner causing them unnecessary harm.
Sgt Vernon Pyfrom is prosecuting the matter.
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