Conviction for faeces assault on 5yearold

A FOSTER carer who admitted assaulting a child in his care by rubbing faecessoiled clothing in the boy’s face was given a deferred sentence in the Alexandra District Court yesterday.

The man, whose name was suppressed, pleaded guilty to assaulting the 5yearold and asked for a discharge without conviction.

Judge Dominic Flatley said the defendant ‘‘had the support of the agencies involved’’ in the child’s care and the defendant and his wife remained as the child’s foster parents.

Oranga Tamariki had asked police to investigate the matter and the agencies were continuing to monitor the situation, Judge Flatley said.

The boy had been in the care of the couple for more than two years and he acknowledged the work done by them as carers.

Convicting the man and deferring the sentence for a year was a ‘‘difficult decision to reach’’, he said.

‘‘ . . . we require the highest standards from foster carers in this country for these vulnerable young people . . . ’’

The defendant asked the child, who was in a bedroom, if he had soiled himself. The child denied it but the defendant found faeces and soiled clothing on the floor and ‘‘lost his temper’’, Judge Flatley said. The man rubbed the clothing on the boy’s face, saying ‘‘you know better than that.’’

It was an unpleasant form of assault and a breach of trust on a ‘‘vulnerable and defenceless’’ victim, the judge said.

Judge Flatley said counsel Russell Checketts submitted the defendant was under pressure. Mr Checketts asked for the defendant to be discharged without conviction as he said the consequences of a conviction would outweigh the gravity of the offending.

Judge Flatley said there was no evidence of that.