Step Parent Given Conditional Discharge And Probation
By Robert Thomas
Disciplining your child is OK but striking them with an aluminum frying pan to do so is not OK - in fact it is an assault.
That's what a step parent learnt in Moose Jaw Provincial Court on Monday morning.
Appearing before Judge Darryl Rayner the accused step parent plead guilty to common assault and ended up with a 12 month suspended sentence due to the mitigating circumstances.
Due to a publication ban enacted by Judge Rayner the accused cannot be identified by name or any other identifiers which point to the child's identity may be published.
Crown Prosecutor Rob Parker told court the child involved had been raised by his parent and step parent. The other biological parent was not involved in the child's life.
The step parent was left in charge of the child after the child's biological parent and step parent's partner passed away.
After having tried unsuccessfully to discipline the child through a warning and taking away privileges the step parent resorted to corporal punishment, Parker told the Court.
“(The step parent) hit the child one time on the buttocks with an aluminum frying pan,” Parker told Judge Darryl Rayner, adding “(the accused) made a calculated decision to discipline the child” and it wasn’t out of anger.
Parker said although it was discipline in nature striking the child with an aluminum frying pan was “inappropriate and illegal.”
Parker went on to add the accused had disciplined the child in this manner because it was “the same way (the step parent) was disciplined as a child.”
Legal Aid lawyer Suzanne Jeanson told the Court her client had been the child's caregiver since the child's one biological parent had passed away a few years ago.
Jeanson said her client suffered from a psychological injury suffered from things they witnessed on the job and as such would “be on disability for the rest of (their) life.”
Jeanson expressed empathy for the child victim.
“I can only imagine it is very difficult for the child. (They) have lost their (one biological parent)” and now is in the care of people not their relatives, she said.
Jeanson said her client did not act with malice and “didn't realize it was illegal.”
She said her client agreed they would benefit from counseling.
Prosecutor Parker said he was not seeking an order regarding the fate of the child because Child Protection was involved in the matter.
“I’m confident leaving this in the hands of the Ministry,” he said
Judge Rayner said using an object to strike a child - even as part of disciplining a child - is a very serious matter and “the Court takes very seriously the striking of a child.”
“Use of an object is something that is not permissible.”
Judge Rayner said despite the seriousness of using a weapon on a child the case did not rise to the level where the Court had to take any further action than the joint conditional discharge submission from the Crown and the Defense.
So long as the step parent follows the conditions of their one year of probation they will not receive a criminal record.