15761: (Hermantin) Palm Beach Post-Witnesses testify in abuse trial (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Witnesses testify in abuse trial


By Bill Cooper, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, June 3, 2003



WEST PALM BEACH -- A Palm Beach County jury must decide if Rosemanine
Saimplice abused -- or disciplined -- her 4-year-old son last September
after striking him for his unruly behavior twice, including once in a store
in which the family was asked to leave.

A six-woman jury heard testimony Monday that portrayed Saimplice as an
out-of-control mother who beat her son repeatedly with a belt in a Publix
parking lot. Her defense said the Haitian mother of three used her hand, not
a belt, while exercising her parental right to punish her son for being
disruptive.

"There is no probable cause to even arrest her for child abuse," said Robert
Guerrier, Saimplice's attorney. "There is a serious injustice going on in
this case."

The trial comes after Saimplice turned down an offer from state prosecutors
to plead guilty and enter a pretrial intervention program for first-time
offenders in which she could erase any record of a conviction after a short
time.

Instead, she now faces a felony charge of aggravated child abuse and, if
convicted, could end up in prison.

According to prosecution witnesses, Saimplice's son, Romanes, was causing
chaos in the Publix at 374 Northlake Blvd. in North Palm Beach. Outside,
Publix clerks Kristen Plunkett and Kristina Hess were eating lunch when they
encountered the 4-year-old.

"He went like 'roar,' " said Hess, who imitated the boy as he pretended to
be a monster. Moments later, Saimplice caught the boy and struck him with a
belt in front of Plunkett and Hess, they testified.

Judith Horner, an assistant manager at Sally's Beauty Supply near the
Publix, testified that she was playing with Romanes, but he became unruly
and threw two brushes at her.

Horner said Saimplice took a box of hair dye and struck the boy on the head.
Shortly thereafter, Horner said, she asked the family to leave.

bill_cooper@pbpost.com

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