A mother in Georgia, aged 34, found herself in custody over the weekend, accused of assaulting her 5-year-old daughter during a bustling festival. She reportedly justified her actions by asserting her right to treat her child as she wished.

Authorities have charged Jordyn Kahanamoku Whitlaw with second-degree cruelty towards a minor, as confirmed by official records.

As detailed in a report accessed by Law&Crime, deputies from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office were on duty at a Mardi Gras festival at Evans Towne Center Park when a concerned individual alerted them to the alleged abuse of a young girl in the playground area.

The witness, who was seated at a picnic table near the playground, recounted hearing a woman instruct a child to “get down.” Upon looking up, she claimed to have witnessed Whitlaw forcefully thrust the child against a chain-link fence and confront her aggressively.

The report notes that although the witness couldn’t decipher Whitlaw’s exact words, she observed the child crying as Whitlaw held her by the ears while continuing to yell. The situation reportedly escalated when Whitlaw allegedly seized the girl by the neck and repeatedly struck her head against the fence.

The witness intervened by shouting at Whitlaw to cease her actions. In response, Whitlaw allegedly retorted that she had the right to do as she pleased with her daughter. The witness then sought assistance from the deputies on site.

Another witness said she saw Whitlaw push the child “into the fence for a timeout.” She said that when the child ran away, Whitlaw caught up to the 5-year-old and “grabbed her by her hair and carried her back to the fence” and “threw [the victim] into the fence again.”

After turning away from the scene briefly, the witness said she looked back and saw that Whitlaw “had her hands around [the victim’s] neck.”

“She saw that [the victim] was crying,” the report says. “Another woman then ran toward Whitlaw and [the victim] to defuse the situation. Whitlaw said to the woman, ‘That’s my daughter, I can do what I want.’”

A third witness said the ordeal began with the child “not listening” to Whitlaw. The third witness confirmed Whitlaw threw the child into the fence and “grabbed her by the throat,” emphasizing that Whitlaw, not the child, was the primary aggressor.

Deputies said the 5-year-old had a visible red abrasion on the right side of her neck. Whitlaw was taken into custody at the scene after the victim’s father arrived to take custody of the child. A report was also filed with the state Department of Family and Child Services.

It was not immediately clear when Whitlaw was scheduled to appear in court.