Rad­hi­ca Sookraj

Po­lice are search­ing for a woman who beat a ten-month-old ba­by as he nes­tled in his moth­er's arms in Ste Madeleine yes­ter­day. Ba­by Josi­ah Williams suf­fered slight swelling to his face af­ter he and his moth­er, Sta­cy Roop­nar­ine, were at­tacked at Co­quette Street, Ste Madeleine. Roop­nar­ine, 20, of Pe­tite Morne, Ste Madeleine, said they were on their way home around 12.15 pm when the as­sailant walked up to her and slapped her in the face.

Roop­nar­ine, who was car­ry­ing Williams, said she had no choice but to de­fend her­self with her um­brel­la. She said the as­sailant then slapped the ten-month-old ba­by. "She slapped my child three times on her face. Right now my ba­by eyes red and his face is swollen," Roop­nar­ine said. Roop­nar­ine said she hat­ed pass­ing along Co­quette Street, but had no choice as she of­ten had to go to her moth­er's home to wash clothes.

Roop­nar­ine said the as­sailant and her three sis­ters were an­tag­o­nis­tic. She added: "Last week one of them told my sis­ter she will shoot her. They al­ways curse us but this time things got worse." She claimed a re­port was made at the Ste Madeleine Po­lice Sta­tion but of­fi­cers were un­sym­pa­thet­ic. "They went up the road and spoke to the girls and af­ter that they came down here and told us not to in­ter­fere with them," Roop­nar­ine said.

She said yes­ter­day af­ter­noon an­oth­er of­fi­cer called from the sta­tion and took a re­port. Roop­nar­ine said she was fed up with the sit­u­a­tion and want­ed to press charges against the as­sailant. She added: "The po­lice paid no at­ten­tion to my child. That woman hit me and my son. He is cry­ing in pain. He doesn't want any­one but me to hold him." Po­lice con­firmed yes­ter­day they re­ceived a re­port of the beat­ing.