Education minister requests police investigation in viral child-beating video

Education minister requests police investigation in viral child-beating video
Education minister Jeffrey Lloyd

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The government has launched an investigation into a video of a woman hitting a school-aged girl in the head and about the body with two cast iron pans.

Minister of Education Jeffrey Lloyd told Eyewitness News that he had been made aware of the video and has asked National Security Minister Marvin Dames to locate the mother and the person who recorded it, so that they can be questioned.

“Clear, clear, abuse,” Lloyd said.

“[It] must be addressed. We cannot have it.”

The video, which was circulated on social media and Whatsapp, shows the young girl huddled in the corner as a woman who she calls “mommy” berates and hits her.

The woman can be heard saying, “You want [make] booty shake movie. That’s what you gone to school for. You dressing up to school. That’s what you putting those clothes underneath your uniform for, to go in bathroom. What else you is do in that bathroom? That’s what I paying private school fee for?”

The young girl continually screams “ouch” and begs the woman to stop, telling her that she is hurting her.

She even tries to hide her face with the hooded sweater she is wearing.

But the woman repeatedly removes the hood, to ensure her face can be seen in the camera and continues to hit the young girl on her legs, arms, hands and wherever else the pan lands.

“I thought you learning,” the woman added.

“You look like you doing a bunch of shit. If I wasn’t sick, I’d kill you in this house”.

The video lasts about a minute and 10 seconds. It’s unclear when or where it was taken.

Lloyd has previously said that the government should consider penalties and sanctions for people who “knowingly record, by electronic means, and to display or forward or transmit to the wider community, world community, matters, incidences, circumstances, acts, which can bring an individual’s life into endless and probably unimaginable disrepute”.

About Sloan Smith

Sloan Smith is a senior digital reporter at Eyewitness News, covering a diverse range of beats, from politics and crime to environment and human interest. In 2018, Sloan received a nomination for the “Leslie Higgs Feature Writer of The Year Award” from The Bahamas Press Club for her work with Eyewitness News.