A woman who pleaded guilty to hitting her nephew, claiming he had stolen her puppy, is to be sentenced in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on August 23.

The 41-year-old mason, Waneta Heavens-Williams of Pleasant Heights in Kingston, pleaded guilty to cruelty to a child.

The woman was also accused of using a machete to beat her 15-year-old niece, but she pleaded not guilty to a second count of cruelty to a child.

The court heard that on July 2, the accused woman used a machete to beat her niece and her nephew.

When Heavens-Williams appeared before Parish Judge Maxine Ellis on Tuesday, she said in respect of her nephew: “I did not beat him. Yes, I hit him on his shoulder. I hit him because he stole a puppy that my dog had”.

About the allegation in relation to her niece, she said: “I did not hit her. I warned her. My son say she ‘kunk’ him saying he was throwing stones on her house, so I go around by where she live and warned her.”

The accused woman stridently denied using the machete to beat her niece.

“Nobody nuh hit her, this is a cook up because me and her mother a feud,” she said.

The judge then asked if the child had reported receiving any bruises or injury.

The prosecutor then read a section of the complainant’s statement in which he said, “She used the machete and hit me on my right leg and then she push up the machete in my face and say mi fi try something.”

The accused then admitted that she had pointed the machete in the teenager’s face while warning her not to hit her son again.

“How can you do that to a child? Do you know that is an offence?” Judge Ellis asked. “If you are her aunt and you doing that, what would you do if you were a stranger?”

“You are a wicked and cruel aunt; yes, you are one of the wicked relatives we read about in the fairy tales and have Cinderella locked away and treat her anyway you feel,” Ellis continued.

Heavens-Williams then told the court that the children were uncontrollable and were a problem to her.

But the judge told her that she has no right to hit them because she is not their guardian.

“You are not allowed to put your hands on children because you are related, leave the disciplining to the guardian,” the judge advised.

The accused woman’s bail was then extended for her to return to court on August 23 for sentencing and trial.