Man jailed for slapping 11-month old daughter for moving when he was changing nappy

The man who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victims in the case admitted three charges of child cruelty on dates between January 1, 2014 and June 30, 2019 to his two sons and his daughter.

Derry Magistrates’ Court heard in statements on Friday that the children said that their father 'was always being aggressive'.

On one occasion he had slapped the oldest son in the face and kept him off school until the marks faded, the court was told.

The children said that they were not allowed to play outside nor have friends round.

The court heard that one of the children then aged 4-years-old was punched several times on the arm.

The children were also hit with a wooden spoon as well as being kicked by their father, the local Magistrates’ Court was told.

Victim impact reports from the defendant’s ex-wife and two of the defendant’s children revealed that they were 'afraid' of their father and that on more than one occasion that he had kept the children off school in order 'to hide bruises'.

The children's grandmother also told the Police Service of Northern Ireland that she felt 'uncomfortable' visiting the house and that the oldest child had told her about being physically illtreated by his father including being kicked and punched.

On one occasion he broke a toy light sabre over one of the children, the court was told.

At interview the man confirmed to the Police Service of Northern Ireland that he could be 'physical' with the children but said that the marks on his oldest was because the boy had 'sensitive skin'.

He confirmed slapping the 11-month-old baby because she had started to crawl away when he was changing her, the court was told.

He claimed that the baby would understand 'physical chastisement'.

Defence counsel Fergal McCormack said it was difficult to make any mitigation in this case.

He said that the defendant 'doesn't even want me to try.'

The barrister said that the man had no previous record and has 'felt the impact of his offending.'

District Judge Barney McElholm said that this case had clearly passed the custody threshold.

He said that he thought that we had put those days behind us when 'people physically chastised their children.'

The judge said that this was not 'the odd slap' but was a 'sustained and frequent' course of action.

He said that the children were 'terrorised and afraid of him'.

The judge told the local Magistrates’ Court that the man would get credit for his early guilty plea and so he would impose a sentence of six months on each charge and not make them consecutive.

The man was sentenced to a total of six months and had a Restraining Order imposed for a period of five years.