No more punishment for mother, judge decides
There will be no more punishment for a woman from a migrant family who hit her daughter with a piece of wood, a judge has decided.
The mother struck the girl with a piece of wood after she had stayed overnight at a friend’s house and didn’t tell the family where she was.
The Christchurch District Court was earlier told that when the girl returned home she was beaten around the arms and legs with the wood, and other family members also assaulted her.
The woman, who has name suppression to protect the girl, has completed counselling, and the other family members have had their charges resolved through the court.
Defence counsel Anya Gartner said the woman’s counselling was a good outcome for the family who were now aware of the boundaries imposed on parents in New Zealand.
Judge Jane Farish told the woman that her daughter did do a wrong thing and had put herself at risk without thinking through the consequences of her actions.
She said the discipline was borne out of love rather than hate, but it was inappropriate to physically assault anyone.
The girl did the right thing by telling about the assault, and it was important for the mother to encourage her to tell the truth, she said.
Judge Farish suppressed the names of the family, and their ethnicity, to encourage the family to move on in a positive way.
She said there would be no more punishment, and convicted and discharged the woman.
Category: News
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