File
Bites inflicted on a three-year-old child by her stepfather in St. Elizabeth. The child suffered bites to her armpits, genitals and mouth.Nashauna Drummond, Staff Reporter
ON SEPTEMBER 25, 1998, seven-year-old Randal Dooley died of brain injuries that were likely caused by being shaken repeatedly. Randal's 42-pound body was covered with scars and bruises. He had 14 broken ribs, a lacerated liver, four separate brain injuries, a broken elbow, and a tooth was found in his stomach.
This happened in Canada. Randal, a Jamaican, had moved to Canada a year earlier to be with his father and step-mother (who are both Jamaicans). They have been charged with second-degree murder - the step-mother is serving an 18-year sentence and the father 13 years.
The US Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect in "A Nation's Shame: Fatal Child abuse and Neglect in the United States", reported that an estimate of child death as a result of neglect or abuse known and unknown to Child Protective Services (CPS) agencies, is about 2,000, or approximately five children per day. The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) data for 1997 showed that children three years and younger account for 77 per cent of fatalities.
Cases of horrific forms of child abuse have appeared in Jamaica. On Friday August 23, 2002, in a community in Victoria Avenue in east Kingston, two-year-old Javon Arnold was allegedly beaten to death by his step-mother. Physical abuse is increasing and our children are in danger - the abusers are closer to home than you think, they are in the home.
In Jamaica the most common form of child abuse is sexual. The Police statistics department reports 193 cases of carnal abuse since the start of this year; 306 in 2001; 434 in 2000; 477 in 1999; and 540 in 1998. For physical abuse there are no statistics that represent the number of resulting fatalities, but it does exist.
In a culture where corporal punishment is condoned as a justifiable form of punishment, the extent to which parents sometimes go raises the issue of child abuse. Where do we draw the line?
