A CHINESE man and his wife were each placed on $80,000 yesterday for allegedly beating an 11-year old Guyanese girl for allegedly stealing from their Zino Mall store last Friday. Jiang Pin Ren, 32, and her husband, Jun Zhang, 42, are accused of assaulting the child on January 4 at Croal Street, Georgetown.
When they appeared before City Magistrate Judy Latchman, they pleaded not guilty to cuffing, slapping, kicking and spitting on the child. The court was told that the child was looking at a bathing suit when the Chinese woman beat her and accused her of stealing.
Police Prosecutor Sergeant Vishnu Hunte did not oppose a bail application by defence lawyer Satesh Kissoon.
In addition to being on bail, the couple has been ordered to report to Inspector Grant at the Brickdam Police Station every Friday until the hearing and determination of the case.
Neither the child nor anyone connected to her was in court when the case was called.
Zen had related that the young girl had ventured into her living room on the third floor and was found hiding beneath her bed. Noticing the Muslim headwear, she said she had panicked thinking the girl was a armed bandit who had come to harm her young babies. Whilst the woman had admitted to flogging the young girl, she had however refuted claims that her spouse had hit her too. She claimed he was merely trying to separate the two.
Ren and Zhang have to return to court for trial on January 28.