KINGSTON, Jamaica — People who turned up at the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court Friday could barely contain their laughter after a woman who professed to be a Christian told the court that she had hit another woman because of her love for God.

The woman, Carmen Jones, was hauled before the court on a charge of assault occasioning bodily harm to which she pleaded guilty.

But this was after she told the court that the complainant had accused her of working obeah and that the complainant's father had thrown her, her pregnant daughter and her 82-year-old mother out of their home.

“So what did you do to the complainant?” Magistrate Lorna Shelly Williams asked.

“Your Honour, I use a piece of stick to hit her three or four times, but I did not hit her out of anger,” Jones said.

“I hit her out of the love of God, and I tell her that Christians must set example, must love their neighbour as themselves, and should not bear false witness against their neighbour.”

After patiently listening to her, the magistrate quietly asked Jones, “Are you finished now?”

Jones was then ordered to reimburse the complainant $3,000 for a doctor's bill and to pay a fine of $40,000, or serve three months in prison.

“You cannot hit the woman with a stick,” said the judge before the complainant revealed that Jones had actually used a 2x4-inch board to hit her.