Dear Pastor,

I have been a reader of your column for a long time and I am still doing it here in the United Kingdom. I have been in the UK for the past eight years. I left behind three children. The second child fell in love with a policeman in St Catherine. She has two kids with him. Whenever he gets his pay, he goes and shops for the children. He does not give my daughter any money to do the shopping, not even for herself. Sometimes I have to send money for her to eat food. She was living with the policeman and his mother and both mother and son beat my daughter in her head. She had to run to the doctor to get treatment. The woman and her son hit her to the floor and she almost died.

Right now I am crying. I don't know what to do or who to report the case to. How can a policeman beat the mother of his children for nine months? What is he doing in the police force? What kind of example is he setting for the youths of today? I wonder why God allows us to get away with such wicked acts. My daughter's life is threatened and she is afraid to report this loser. Could you please send me the Commissioner's address or phone numbers so that I can stop this man from hitting another woman's child and also his children's mother. I am aching because I am not there right now for her. But I will be going to Jamaica soon. His mother took side with her son and almost killed my daughter.

Please, help me, pastor.

J.G., United Kingdom

Dear J.G.,

Why would you have to write to the Commissioner of Police to complain against this police officer? If your daughter is being abused by him, she can take the initiative and report him without your help.

Now according to you, this officer does not give his children's mother any money for herself and he only does the shopping for the children. How can he buy food for the children and the mother goes hungry when they live together? I find that difficult to believe. I know that some men prefer to do the shopping, especially if their woman cannot be trusted with money. Some women pinch the food money to do other things and short-change their children, so to speak. On the other hand, a woman should always be given money to take care of herself if she is unemployed. This police officer should not beat his children's mother. And if he does this, he should be reported.

Pastor