A man who told the court that he hit the mother of his child because she provoked him will have to pay a fine of $5,000 or serve two months in prison.

Tesha Miller was also ordered to pay the complainant $700 for her injuries when he appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.

Miller explained to the court that this incident could have been prevented. According to him, "one morning her babyfather come inna di house on mi".

This incident, he told the court, caused him to react the way he did.

After handing down her sentence, Resident Magistrate Shelly Williams also ordered that Miller be fingerprinted.