CHILD ABUSE in Barbados is more rampant now than before, Magistrate Faith Marshall-Harris said yesterday.

One of five panellists on Voice Of Barbados call-in programme Brass Tacks Sunday which discussed corporal punishment, the Juvenile Court and Family Court magistrate said it stemmed from the view that parents could lash their children and no one could tell them anything.

Additionally, she said that she saw the "terrible" effects of corporal punishment in homes and some of the juveniles appeared in court "because violence is now so much a part of society, they start to hit back".

"Corporal punishment that is being administered in the home is terrible. I've had parents who have used a mug with scalding coffee to lash somebody against the head. I've had mothers who use a knife and the gashes were there to be seen," she added.

The Magistrate told the live programme that she had seen corporal punishment in the home which had her worried.

She said, "When we talk about child abuse we keep talking about sexual abuse but actually there is more child abuse in Barbados now as a result of this idea that 'well, I can beat my child if I want to, it's my child you can't tell me what to do'. That is actually producing far more abuse."

She revealed that recently she had three or four cases where she had to remove the child from the home.

"I am seeing far too much of that in the home. I am seeing children who are now saying that when she [mother] starts to beat she loses control which becomes another factor.

"I've had a case where a woman admitted to me that she picked up three big rocks and threw at her daughter and the daughter threw them back.

"This is why I am tending to feel if we can rule out corporal punishment everywhere in the society we may start to see a change.

"But I have sympathy as a juvenile judicial officer that what will happen in the secondary schools particularly would also bother me because there is quite a lot of deviancy in the secondary schools in Barbados now," said the magistrate who also noted that she did not have "any serious repercussions" from flogging in the school.

The other panellists were principal of Garrison Secondary School, Matthew Farley, UNICEF representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Tom Olsen, principal of Queen's College, Dr David Browne, and Derek Griffith, who works with PAREDOS. (DS)