A man who was arrested for allegedly hitting his nephew in his face with a belt, elicited laughter when he told the court that he was disciplining the child for playing and making noise on the Sabbath.

Joseph Hill was arrested and charged with cruelty to a child following allegations that he used a belt to hit his seven-year-old nephew in his face, causing bruises.

When asked by the magistrate his reason for hitting the child, Hill said: “He was being disrespectful; he was playing on the Sabbath.”

The accused, while admitting that he had beaten the child, pleaded not guilty to the charge, claiming that he had not deliberately hit the child in his face.

Hill told the court that while he was hitting the child he ran off and that he was not aware that the belt had caught his nephew in his face.

Hill said that he was inside his house reading his Bible and praying when his two children and his nephew started making noise on the outside. He said he told them to stop, but they did not comply.

“I beat everybody. I give everyone, one, one lick and same time he (his nephew) said to me big P…. bwoy.”

Senior Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey, while pointing out to Hill that his nephew had learned those vulgar words in his home environment, said: “You don’t know that you must not beat on the Sabbath?”

Hill replied: “Everyone of them must know God.”

The magistrate responded: “I wonder if you know God. You, as a man of God, stand up before the court and say you beat your nephew because he is playing on your Sabbath. Go home and pray to your God, because you haven’t met him yet.”

Pusey extended Hill’s his bail for trial on December 13 and warned him to stay away from the complainant.