BENTLEY WEBSTER DOES not deny restraining his two sons.
Yesterday he described how he attached the chain to the 19-year-old’s foot and left the 23-year-old in a closed bedroom on Wednesday morning, but he said the chains and the door were never locked and the boys were free to come and go as they pleased.
In fact, Webster seemed surprised when he was told that the boy still had the chain locked to his foot when he went to the neighbours and police for help.
“The chain would have been long so he was able to walk around. And I would have put the lock to the top, but I didn’t lock it,” he said.
The day after police moved into his Happycot, Mansion Road, Bank Hall, St Michael home after the younger son turned up at the District “A” Police Station, freed the older boy from his room and took Webster into custody, the 48-year-old maintenance worker at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital sought to clear his name.
Webster had not long returned home after being granted bail on two charges of wrongful confinement when he sat down with the WEEKEND NATION.
He started with a disclaimer. Even before it was spotted, Webster hastened to tuck under a cushion a chain that was locked to a chair handle.
“Let’s not take that, that was just put there recently,” he said.
The father of three said he had “a lot of challenges” with the younger boy recently, and he decided to attach a chain to one of his feet to keep him from going out on the block, smoking drugs and getting up to other undesirable activities, which sometimes saw police bringing the son home late at night.
“I wanted to scare him. Can’t get him to stay in here at all . . . I tried my best as a father, but probably I went about it the wrong way, to be honest,” Webster said.
He was quick to claim that Monday was the first time he resorted to such actions, and that he took the chain off when he got home from work, and he and the boys would do their regular family activities.
Webster also pointed out the exact room his oldest child was left in. There was a short chain and padlock on the door, which he claimed were never engaged.
He stoutly denied accusations by neighbours that he severely beat his children, refused to feed them and kept them locked inside the house.
“And I’m so glad I don’t [beat them] because yesterday [Wednesday] the Child Care Board actually took them over to the doctor and everyone of them get a clean bill of health. If not that would’ve gone negative for me. They didn’t see a scratch,” Webster stated.
He said he did not regularly punish the children, but when he did, it was never to cause them harm. The older boy got most of the punishment and his 14-year-old daughter, who was at school when police moved in, got the least, he said, adding that he loved his children equally.
When asked where the children were, Webster said they were “fine” and at an “undisclosed” location.
“They didn’t do anything without contacting me,” Webster said.
As far as being taken into custody and everything which led up to it was concerned, Webster said the police told him they understood he meant well, but probably put on too much force, which “could be true”.
He said he pleaded guilty to the two charges with an explanation and added there was a lesson in Wednesday’s ordeal for him.
“Any time in the future I need help with any of my children . . . and I feel I can’t handle it on my own, I will go for professional help,” he said.
Webster also admitted that there was some intervention by the Child Care Board a few years ago when his wife, who he said spent weekends with them and was with him on Wednesday night, scratched their daughter with her fingernails.
In the midst of the ordeal and the “horrible” things which were said, Webster maintained he was at peace.
“I know it’s not true . . . . If you know that you have not brutalised the children and scratched them up, I’m not one to let it get me down,” Webster said, adding that he was praying through it all. (YB)
