THIRTY-nine year old Babita Isaacs appeared before Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus at the New Amsterdam Magistrates Court on Friday, charged with assault causing actual bodily harm. The court was told that Isaacs was allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with a teenager, who had been forced into marrying an older man. As a result of the allegation, she allegedly assaulted the mother of the teenager, Shamiroon Abrahim, as she exited the New Amsterdam Hospital on January 21 last.
Abrahim had gone to the health institution where her daughter was a patient, having consumed a poisonous liquid hours after marrying a much older man. In court on Friday, the defendant said that she was sorry about the incident.
After Isaacs pleaded guilty to the charge, Magistrate Sherdel Marcus Isaacs informed the defendant that the law stipulates that she could be imprisoned for up to 18 months.
Responding, Isaacs said,”Then I should spend two months in jail for what I have done.”
Asked by the court what prompted the allegations, she replied in the local dialect: “Your worship, she [Shaimoon Abrahim] scandal me name. She say me deh with she daughter and how me nah want she daughter married wan boy. Me get wan passion, and me go and hit she, and scrape she pon she neck and I cuff she in she back.”
Police Prosecutor Sergeant Phillip Sherriff, prosecuting, said on the day in question, the defendant and the virtual complainant (VC) had earlier left the New Amsterdam Hospital, when there was some hard talking between the women.
However, as Abrahim was about to join a bus heading to the Corentyne, the defendant dealt her several slaps and cuffs about her body. The matter was subsequently reported to the Central Police Station.
Afterwards, Abrahim sought medical attention at the New Amsterdam Hospital where a doctor on duty recorded her injuries as being trauma to the head and back, along with two superficial scrapes to the anterior region of the chest. The injuries were not life- threatening.
Meanwhile, standing in for the absent VC, was her daughter Natasha Singh, who had attempted suicide on January 21.
The 18 year old told the court that her mother was out of the country and that she would be returning in three months time.
However, the magistrate ordered that Isaacs, also called “Buff,” post $35,000 bail and that she return to court on February 16 for sentencing.
After the bail was posted Isaacs and the VC’s daughter were seen walking very closely, as they smiled at each other, whilst exiting the New Amsterdam Magistrates Court compound.