It was circulated on Monday and showed the twoand- a-half-year-old sitting on the floor in a vest and pamper, while handcuffed behind his back around a pillar.
The father was heard admonishing the boy for stealing his watch.
“Stop stealing my watch, all right? All the time; all the time,” he said, as he showed the handcuffs and a watch on his right wrist.
The child, who appeared terrified, cried out: “Daddy!”
Yesterday, the CCB, through a Barbados Government Information Service release, said the parents had voluntarily turned up at their offices with the child.
“The Child Care Board is carrying out investigations into the circumstances surrounding a video circulating on social media showing a child handcuffed to a pillar. Acting director of the board, Denise Nurse, said today [yesterday] that initial investigations suggested that the two-and-a-half-year-old child was in no danger, but was engaged in play with his father,” the release said.
Nurse described the incident as “unfortunate” and said the young family came to their offices after the video went viral.
“They had also gone to the media and to the police “Stay strong they said! Be rational they said! Be brave they said! Be an educated, hard-working black woman they said! But NO ONE told me it is okay to crumble! No one told me what to do when one of your biggest fears come[s] to reality! A nightmare!!! How does a helpless mother protect her very vulnerable son??? Well I am BROKEN! . . . . I am HURT! I am emotional! Most of all I am ANGRY!!!!!,” she wrote.
The mother added that she spoke to the site’s administrator “and begged for it to be taken down”, which was done.
Pointing out that she did not give “two hoots” about comments and people’s opinions, the mother said she watched the video over 100 times and broke down each time crying.
“This post is in no way a call for comfort,” she said. “As I lay down watching my sweet son sleep, the one I have made many sacrifices for . . . I want to break something!
“It hurts! It hurts like hell . . . .”
“I write this as an apology to my son. Mummy wasn’t able to protect you from all of this today and I sorry. I pray to God this doesn’t affect you in the future because I have been working tirelessly to ensure the doors are open, and to be a positive role model so you have a bright and prosperous future.”
A SCREENSHOT showing the handcuffs and watch
on the child. (GP)
of male friends. to explain the circumstances of the video. The Child Care Board director said the child appeared ‘well loved’ and the parents were extremely upset and remorseful. They had also brought in other videos which showed a close relationship between the child and his father,” the release continued.
The director said they had reported the matter to police as mandated by law, but also counselled the couple and warned them against such behaviour in the future.
The distraught mother also took to social media to write about the anguish she had gone through after discovering that the video was being circulated.
(MB)
PARENTS OF THE TODDLER who was videoed handcuffed to a pillar, turned themselves into the police and the Child Care Board (CCB) yesterday.
The mother, Dania Hamilton, has written an apology to her son on social media, explaining that it was an “unfortunate” incident of child’s play gone wrong. The video, she said, was recorded by the boy’s father as a funny one and shared in a group
