Vernon Courthouse

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)

VERNON - A mother accused of assaulting her eight-year-old son during a violent tantrum in Vernon was found not guilty in Vernon Provincial Court on the basis that she acted in self-defence.

The woman, who cannot be named by court order to protect the identity of her son, came from Kelowna to Vernon to visit him on Sept. 4, 2016, according to a decision by Provincial Court Judge Richard Hewson.

It’s not the first time the courts have examined a parent’s right to use force against their child. Two years ago, a mother and father from Salmon Arm were found guilty of assault with a weapon — a mini hockey stick and a skipping rope — after punishing their daughter for sexting. Another father was convicted of assault for spanking his daughter with a belt for the same reason — sexting — although he later had the charge expunged from his criminal record.

In this latest case, the boy began misbehaving during an outing in Vernon and started asking for a toy. When his mom wouldn’t buy it, he threw a tantrum. She testified that her son was swearing at her, calling her names, and kicking her in the ankles and lower leg. She said she responded by wrapping her arms around him — a tactic previously recommended by her counsellors — but he continued to struggle, and the two of them fell on the ground. She held him down and after a brief time, she noticed some dog feces next to his head and warned him, “Look out, buddy. There is some dog poop.” She said that this made him laugh, and they got up and went home. 

Following the incident, the boy’s father came to pick him up and said the mother was agitated and “told him to take his son.”

“She punctuated that demand with a profane adjective. There is no need for me to repeat her language here, but I note that it was entirely consistent with a high degree of frustration or anger toward the child,” Hewson said.

Over the next few days, the son developed a bruise on his ear and also had scratch marks on his neck and shoulder. It wasn’t until roughly eight months later that his father reported the incident to police, explaining the delay as not wanting to make a life-changing decision in the heat of the moment.

Hewson had some concerns with the father’s credibility, including the fact that he made the son “go over the story” during the drive to the police station. The man’s girlfriend testified that during the drive she heard parts of the boy’s story, such as his mother smashing his head into a pole and rubbing his face in dog feces, that she had not heard from him before.

Not long before the incident, the mother had been living at an undisclosed facility in Kelowna, where her son came to visit on weekends. Court heard that the boy suffers from behaviour issues that “make him extremely difficult to parent” and his mother relied on facility staff to help her when he had tantrums. The day of the alleged offence was one of her first solo visits with her son since being discharged from the facility.

Defence counsel for the mother made two arguments, the first that the assault was justified under Canadian law that states a parent can use force by way of correction toward a child if the force does not exceed what is reasonable in the circumstances. In this particular incident, Hewson said the mother’s actions were “animated by frustration, and not applied by way of correction” and added that wrestling a child to the ground, resulting in scratches and bruises, is not reasonable.

The second argument was self-defence, which is only available if an accused believed force was being used against her, if she committed the act for the purpose of protecting herself, and if the act was reasonable in the circumstances.

Hewson highlighted the fact that the son was kicking his mother, which satisfied the first element, and said the Crown had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that her actions were not intended to protect herself. The third aspect — whether the act was reasonable in the circumstances — was key, Hewson said.

“Wrestling the child to the ground, causing scrapes and bruises, would not have been proportional had (the son) simply thrown a tantrum, without kicking his mother. However, the law of assault does not make an exception requiring parents to tolerate assaults by their children. A degree of force that would not be reasonable by way of correction, might be reasonable in self-defence,” Hewson said.

He said the Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the degree of force used by the mother was unreasonable, and found her not guilty.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston or call 250-309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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