A front page story on Stuff at the moment is about a woman who systematically beat her child and has been successfully prosecuted and placed on home detention.
According to the story the Tauranga mother’s initial excuse was that she was disciplining her child:
When spoken to by police in February, Nelson admitted she sometimes hit her daughter with a fist or open hand with such force that it hurt her hand but said she did so because the girl back-chatted her and had behavioural problems.
Apparently the abuse escalated to holding a knife to the girl’s throat.
If section 59 of the crimes act had not been repealed there’s a good chance this prosecution would have failed. Given it has allowed for home detention, compulsory rehabilitation and the recognition of a drug and alcohol problem this successful prosecution is likely to be in the best long-term interests of the perpetrator as well as her victim.
A loving smack indeed.
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