Judge rules father went too far in disciplining children

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A Moncton judge placed a man on 12 months probation yesterday for using excessive force when disciplining his children.

"What may have been acceptable 30 or 40 years ago no longer falls into that category," said Moncton provincial court Judge Pierre Arseneault, prior to sentencing the man.

The judge said there are times when all parents' patience will be tested by their children, but that doesn't give them the right to assault them in order to get them to behave.

"There are limits to what is acceptable to correct children when they are misbehaving," said the judge.

The 37-year-old Albert County man, whose name is not being published so the identities of his three young victims are not revealed, had no criminal record prior to these convictions. He was charged with four indictable counts of assault against his children last fall and stood trial earlier this year.

Arseneault convicted him on three counts and the defendant returned to court yesterday for sentencing.

During the hearing, the court heard the man struck two boys with a belt across their buttocks. One was wearing pants at the time, while another was in bed during the assault and had a blanket over his behind.

The judge said that during the trial, which saw the children testify via video-hookup, the boys testified it hurt when they were hit with the belt. They were approximately nine and 10 years old.

The third charge related to the father slapping a two-year-old girl in the thigh when she wouldn't behave. It was a hard enough blow that it left a bruise or mark on the girl's leg.

Crown prosecutor Marc Savoie asked the judge to sentence the man to jail, in order to send a strong message of deterrence to other parents.

"Kids at that age are extremely vulnerable and they deserve to be raised in a house without fear and violence," said Savoie.

Without a criminal record and no injuries suffered by the children, the judge said jail would be too harsh a sentence.

Defence lawyer Meredith Bateman asked for a period of probation for her client.

"He was up front about the fact this is the way he was raised (with corporal punishment) and he never thought much of it," she said.

The defendant, who no longer lives with his wife and children and can only see the kids during supervised visits, has already taken an anger management course.

Using physical force to discipline a child is allowed under Canadian law, unless it goes too far. According to section 43 of the Criminal Code: "Every schoolteacher, parent or person standing in the place of a parent is justified in using force by way of correction toward a pupil or child, as the case may be, who is under his care, if the force does not exceed what is reasonable under the circumstances."

In this case, Arseneault decided the force was excessive. He said previous case law has determined it's unreasonable when adults use objects to discipline children, when they strike the child's head or when they use force on a child two years old or younger.

"Clearly a child is entitled to look to his parents for care and protection," said the judge.