NASSAU-Social media personality Alesha “Car Wash” McNeil has admitted to beating a child left in her care so badly that he bruised.
McNeil, known for her Facebook videos, pleaded guilty to cruelty to children when she appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes.
The eight-year-old’s mother called police on June 5 after she saw marks on her son’s back and stomach, the prosecutor said.
McNeil, 23, of Third Street, The Grove, said she disciplined the child with the father’s permission because he didn’t “want to learn.”
McNeil claimed that she was teaching the boy how to read and write, but he told her “he wasn’t into that.”
The child, McNeil said, wanted to sing her song instead. But she told the child that she wanted him to “be smart.”
She claimed that the child’s father told her, “Baby, if he doesn’t learn, beat him.”
The court said that McNeil had clearly beaten the child to an extent the the marks were visible the following day.
However, McNeil said her mother used to beat her when she didn’t want to learn.
Forbes said the child’s father should have been charged too.
“To my mind he is equally responsible, because he had no authority to give you permission to beat his child. If he wanted to engage in that conduct, he should have done so, and then explain it to his ex-girlfriend.”
The magistrate asked McNeil how she would feel if another woman had disciplined her child. The question was a hypothetical one since she doesn’t have any children.
However, McNeil that she would “feel some type of way.”
Forbes said that child abuse in any form was unacceptable.
In sentencing McNeil to three months in prison, Forbes said he took into account McNeil’s early guilty plea and clean criminal record. He said the court did not consider her convictions as a juvenile.
McNeil is originally from Grand Bahama. She said she moved to New Providence after the devastation of Hurricane Dorian in 2019.
