A Dubbo father who hit his child with a belt has been convicted of behaviour 'beyond the bounds of discipline for a child'.
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The 35-year-old father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in Dubbo Local Court on Wednesday.
According to court documents, on September 2, the child had been reprimanded by their school for poor behaviour. When the child got home, the father asked about the behaviour at school and the young child denied getting into any trouble.
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Later that afternoon, after receiving a phone call from the school, the father had again confronted the child.
Once again the victim denied their actions, which lead to the father becoming angry, yelling at the victim and sending them to their room.
While the child was sitting on the bed, the father walked in a short time later carrying a leather belt with both ends in one hand creating a loop. The father approached the child and swung the belt delivering two strikes to the upper thighs of the victim.
The child began to cry from the pain and red marks appeared, police facts reveal.
The father left the room without saying anything to the victim. The child remained in their bedroom for the remainder of the evening, only leaving for dinner.
The next day when the child returned to school, they were spoken to by the deputy principal.
When asked about their parent's response, the child raised their shorts, showing the deputy principal a significant amount of bruising and red marks.
The school contacted police, and officers from the Macquarie Child Abuse Squad attended. The father told officers he had become angry that the child was lying about getting into trouble and used the belt out of frustration.
Police believed the actions of the father went beyond the bounds of lawful chastisement and have resulted in significant bruising and pain to the victim.
The father's defence lawyer Matthew Quill told the court he had "issues with the child" and had become very frustrated with them, after they continued to back answer and mutter under their breath at him.
"It's not something he does frequently. He's never hit his children like that before," Mr Quill told the court.
"It's out of character for him, and he was quite shocked when the child came out for dinner."
Magistrate Gary Wilson said the father had used punishment that was "beyond the acceptable bounds of discipline for a young child".
"It's certainly no excuse for a kid to be subject to those actions," he said.
The father was convicted and given a community corrections order to be of good behaviour for 12 months and fined $500.