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By Racquel Porter
Children's Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison says the brutal beating of a 14-year-old girl on Holland Street, Denbigh, Clarendon on December 30 last year is an indication of the nation's inability to amicably resolve conflicts.
A video, which has since gone viral, showed the teen being thrown to the ground and kicked several times.
The incident reportedly stemmed from a love triangle involving the teen's mother, the mother's boyfriend and another woman.
Mrs. Gordon Harrison said the situation highlights the need to teach Jamaicans how to respond to everyday conflicts "in a way that is socially acceptable and non-violent".
"So if somebody does something to you, it doesn't mean that the first reaction is to buy a bottle of acid and wait until you see them or their child going to the shop. Or it doesn't mean that if somebody steps on your toe, you think they're 'dissing' you, so you have to stab them."
The Children's Advocate said while her office has been working with schools to remedy behavioural issues, some children revert to negative practices at home.
"So what we have done as well is we have broadened the community intervention where we're not going to be having some of these parents going to PTA meetings and taking part in all kinds of associations and so on at school, but really going into the communities to meet these parents and these caregivers and broader members of the community where they're at, selling their goods by the clock, hanging out at the taxi stand, working in a bar because they have to make ends meet and the children are at home," she noted.
Mrs. Gordon Harrison was speaking Wednesday morning on Power Talk on Power 106.
Six people, including a 52-year-old woman and a 15-year-old, have been taken into police custody in relation to the beating of the teen.
The teenager is reportedly struggling to remember basic information after sustaining a major head injury during the assault.
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