August 2, 2016 By Hassan Gbassay Koroma
Presiding Magistrate at the Freetown Magistrates’ Court No.2, Albert J. Moody, last Friday sentenced one Emile Thomas to six months imprisonment at the Male Correctional Centre in Freetown or an alternative fine of Le500,000 for lashing his daughter with a cutlass as a punishment for misplacing the sum of ten thousand Leones.
The convict was charged with one count of child cruelty, contrary to Section 2 of the Domestic Violence Act of 2007.
The prosecution had alleged that the accused on 6 April, 2015 at Old Railway Line, Wilberforce, in Freetown, physically abused the victim.
Making his plea of mitigation in tears, the convict promised that he would never repeat the act and pleaded for mercy.
In his ruling, Magistrate Moody noted that the act of the accused had resulted to wounds on the victim’s body.
He described the act as inhuman, noting that there were other means to punish the victim instead of locking her up in the house and lashing her with a cutlass.
“I know things are difficult in the country, but that is not sufficient reason for you to have used a cutlass to punish her for misplacing ten thousand Leones. It is sometimes good to punish our children when they want to go out of hands but we should always find better ways of doing it, instead of using cutlass or stick,” said the magistrate.