KINGSTON, Jamaica — “Dem seh man short but some a dem turn we in a preke,” Senior Parish Judge at the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court, Lori-Ann Cole-Montague, said on Tuesday, in response to a woman who stood before her accused of beating her child’s step mother with a board.

The accused, 32-year-old Sandra Dwyer, was charged with unlawful wounding and malicious destruction of property, to which she pleaded guilty to. She was ordered to pay $75,000 in restitution.

The allegations were that on September 15 about 9:35 am, the complainant went to the Fletchers Land Police Station in regard to a report that was made against her by Dwyer. The complainant, who is a station attendant at the police station, said while she was there Dwyer threatened her by saying “Hey gyal watch when mi hold you. Watch me and you.”

The complainant said that after she left the police station and headed home, Dwyer attacked her with a knife, but a man intervened.

According to the complainant, Dwyer walked away but then proceeded to use a piece of board to hit her on the left side of her face and head, causing a wound that bled. She also alleged that Dwyer then hit her again with the board, as she tried to defend herself.

The complainant said she was assisted by a passerby to the police station, after which she noticed that her right hand was bruised and cut.

When asked by the Senior Parish Judge her version of events, Dwyer said the incident stemmed from when she told her daughter to go to her father’s house for lunch money, and was then informed by her daughter that the complainant slammed the gate in her face.

Dwyer said the complainant and her subsequently got into a heated argument, resulting in the woman accusing her of being a prostitute. To which Dwyer told the court she responded by saying, “Yes, mi affi sell mi p***y fi take care a mi pickney.”

The accused also told the court that they were friends who use to “eat and drink together.”

But, this was quickly denied by the complainant who told the judge that she “love that little girl like my own.”

The complainant, who has two children for the man, added that she treats all his children that are not hers with love and she even, “use my own money to send them to school.”

She argued that despite the constant fuss with Dwyer, she has no intention of leaving the man.

After hearing all the explanations, the judge commented, “this can’t continue, this don’t look good.”

“There are some things as women, it nuh sound right. Mi nuh better than you, mi nuh more than you, so the same kind of behaviour that you expect from me, you should see yourself like that too. Put value on yourself, my girl,” Cole-Montague chided.

Dwyer agreed to pay $25,000 for the complainant’s cell phone that was damaged during the fight, and another $50,000 for the injuries she sustained.

The judge permitted Dwyer to pay the first half of the amount owed when she returns to court on October 10.