Relatives and friends of a three-year-old girl, who resides at Vermont, are in shock after the child allegedly received a severe beating from her stepfather.{{more}}

The infant, Akelia Pompey, is now nursing a broken hand and other injuries at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH).

When SEARCHLIGHT visited the hospital yesterday, the child’s right arm was broken and bound in a cast. Her face was also swollen and bruised and a deep wound lay at the back of her head.

She had to be rushed to the MCMH on the evening of Saturday, March 26, after sustaining serious injuries during a domestic dispute.

A cousin of the child’s mother, who prefers to remain anonymous, told SEARCHLIGHT that the incident occurred at the child’s home.

When contacted, neighbours recalled hearing a loud bang in the house. They claimed that they saw the child’s mother Karen Pompey running, as she was allegedly being chased by Gregory Grant, who had a cutlass in his hand.

One neighbour Clothilda Ollivierre related to SEARCHLIGHT that she was taking a shower when she heard a tumbling sound, “like when you pelting something from one part to the next.”

She added that she asked one of her daughters what the noise was. She replied that she did not know.

Minutes later, the woman recounted that she was on the porch at her home, when her daughter ran to her and told her that it was the little child who was being ‘pelted’ around in the house.

Ollivierre said she could not believe, but when she looked she saw the stepfather leaving the house.

The woman said she immediately enquired about the child’s mother, who has four other children, but was told that the mother had run out of the house earlier.

She noted that at that point she began to worry about the child, but shortly after she saw her daughter, along with another relative of the child running towards her house with the lass covered in blood.

Painting a picture of the cruelty meted out to the child, Ollivierre said blood was flowing out of the child’s nose and mouth. She disclosed that the child was also crying, but this subsided into soft moans.

Another cousin of the child, Jose Pompey stated that during the fracas the child was allegedly slammed on the floor about three times, was hit in the face with a shoe, slapped and beaten.

The child also received bite marks to her bottom and leg.

The relatives and neighbours said they are still mystified as to why the stepfather would have beaten the child.

They, however, noted that it was not the first time that the child had been allegedly abused, adding that the stepfather has also abused the mother in the past.

A cousin, who was at the child’s bedside at the hospital, said this was the first time that the child had been beaten to such an extent.

She said questions about abuse were asked of the child’s mother in the past, but on more than one occasions the mother denied being beaten and even told persons that the child’s injuries were as a result of her ‘falling down.’

Reports claim that the three-year-old had only started living with her mother and the stepfather during the last two months.

The cousin disclosed that the wound at the back of the child’s head was actually sustained before Saturday’s incident. She said in that beating, which took place on Wednesday, March 23, the man had beaten the child with a glass cup at the back of her head.

Vermont Police disclosed to SEARCHLIGHT yesterday that the mother and stepfather will be arrested and will have to appear at the Family Court.