The verdict is in: Guilty!

After a six-month saga that included several adjournments and accusations, the case against a woman who allegedly attacked a young student has finally reached a verdict: Guilty. On Monday the court handed down the decision which the victim’s mother, Molly Allen, had been agitating for ever since her daughter was beaten just before Jounen Kweyol festivities at her school. It was revealed that the assailant was the mother of a young boy who had been bullying the youngster for more than a year.

Despite the defendant’s denials, she was found culpable and ordered to pay one thousand dollars to the court and a further three thousand towards Allen’s costs. The embattled mother reflected on experience.

“It was positive and negative. Because when I look at it, everybody, they did not expect I would go so far. Everybody tried to change their story but no matter how you look at it the truth came through. Her lawyer tried to take the focus from my daughter and put it on me. The story from both her and her lawyer was I did something wrong. I should have never put it in the newspaper, I should have never put it out there and all these kinds of things. There were many times when the magistrate had to say come back to the point. This is about the child getting injured and that is what I really wanted. This is about the injuries.”

Allen was immediately asked to consider pursuing a civil suit, but after careful consideration she has decided against the action.

“When I sit down and I look at it, it doesn’t make sense. Ask yourself, what will you get out of it? Because from day one the government had no interest, the government don’t even care. The ministry is about their own agenda. I did it all the time by myself. The main thing is that she was found guilty of causing my child’s injuries. I asked my daughter how she feels, because it’s mostly about her, and she said ‘Mommy they found her guilty.’ I was going to pursue it and fight it and there’s somebody reminding me and telling me you’re bigger than that. No matter how much money you give me, you can’t bring back what I lost. It cannot give me back my child’s spine 100%. It cannot give me any closure.”

In the aftermath of the incident, Allen spent months railing against the authorities, imploring the powers that be to take better care of the nation’s youth entrusted to them. Allen remains repulsed by their seeming indifference but is at peace with her own decisions.

“The system failed themselves. In many ways they failed themselves. They failed my daughter, but at the same time they couldn’t take away our integrity because we will always stand for what is right and we will always prosper.”

Allen has now turned her full concentration over to her daughter and son, who she reported were doing well at their new institution. Given their tumultuous history at their former school, Allen is even more vigilant and completely unwilling to have them suffer the same fate at the hands of any student or adult. But so far all is well. Her little girl is also on the mend.

The ironic twist in this sordid situation lies in the fact that Allen and the assailant were once friends, acting as caretakers of each other’s offspring. When asked if she would be able to forgive her former acquaintance, the response was a terse, “no.”

“I asked myself that question. I went to God on my knees. For me to do it I will tell you straight up, it will take time. It will take years. You know why? When I look at my daughter and when she cries, and when I have to take her to the doctor, it all faces you. I have to try to get over that. Thank God I have a pastor who has tried to do the counseling and free my mind. But we have to deal with reality facing us. And we have to ask ourselves how can we get past that? For forgiveness? Go to the cross.”

Allen has a final message for fellow parents.

“Never turn your back on your children. They didn’t ask us to come in this world. No government or scientist or lawyer can tell you how to raise your children. And regardless how you may feel about that parent, nobody has ay right to touch a child. Nobody has the right.”