Woman seen in video clip beating child says she is not a bad person
The child who was shown in a video, being repeatedly struck by a woman, has been removed from that womanâs care.
Social media erupted in outrage this week over the two minute 31 seconds long video, showing a woman repeatedly striking a girl dressed in school uniform.
The video, filmed secretly with a cellular phone from the window of a home in Lowmans Leeward, shows a woman going through the girlâs bookbag, taking out a raincoat and throwing it at the child.
The woman then goes to the child, kicks her three times, hits her in the back, then in her head, before retrieving the raincoat and the other items that fall from the childâs bag.
The child goes into the house and is called back outside by the woman, after which the blows continue to rain down on the child. The child is slapped and struck in the back and head multiple times.
The person filming the video from a nearby house can be heard muttering, âI canât believe this,â while making sounds suggesting that the person may have been crying while witnessing the incident.
When contacted on Wednesday, the Police Public Relations Department said the matter has been reported to the Questelles Police Station and is being investigated.
On Wednesday, SEARCHLIGHT visited the scene of the troubling incident and spoke to farmer Thotelyn Wilson, 60, who admitted that she was the woman in the video.
She declined an opportunity to comment, but was not hostile to SEARCHLIGHT. She said she was aware of the video making the rounds and admitted to being questioned by police in relation to the incident which took place on Monday, February 19.
She said every story has three sides, but did not want to publish hers. She, however, stated that she was not a bad person and has raised other children.
Investigations revealed that the five-year-old girl has been living with Wilson for three years and was entrusted to her care by the childâs father who is a farmer and occasionally gives money to Wilson to take care of his daughter. The child has been away from her mother since she was three months old.
After the video surfaced, the childâs father took the child back to his home at Campden Park and on Wednesday, SEARCHLIGHT witnessed the dreadlocked dad collecting the childâs belongings from Wilson.
He declined an interview with SEARCHLIGHT, stating that he is not sure what took place and did not want to repeat what he heard on the streets. He said he was distraught and at one point, began crying.
A Facebook user wrote this: âThe little girl and the woman in the video live literally FIVE minutes from me… thatâs not even her child! Her name is â¦.. and her dad took her since she was 4 months old and being a farmer, he lets her stay with this lady, he PAYS for her to live there… so even if she rip or draw in her books… her father paid for them ⦠this woman wa she head lick tf off!â.
This sentiment summed up the majority of comments on social media and talk radio, with only a small minority of persons trying to justify the beating.
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