Abuser’s ‘smacking system’ discipline

A woman’s devotion to scripture took a literal turn when she used a leather strap inscribed with the ‘‘spare the rod, spoil the child’’ proverb to discipline two children.

Along with the strap, dubbed ‘‘The Rodney’’, Nicole Potroz used a wooden spoon and spatula to hit the two boys, aged 7 and 8, when she thought they had stepped out of line.

The physical abuse went on between May 1, 2016 to April 4, 2017 and was only discovered when the two victims told family members what had happened.

The summary of facts said the boys were then spoken to by specialist interviewers from the police and Oranga Tamariki (Ministry for Vulnerable Children).

During the interview, the victims said they had been smacked and punched numerous times by Potroz. They said she would hit the backs and palms of their hands and the tips of their fingers with the wooden spoon and spatula.

She would also punch them and hit them with the leather strap.

One of the victims told the specialist interviewer that Potroz had a ‘‘system’’ in place for how many smacks she dished out. If he did one thing wrong, he would get a smack on each palm with the spatula.

If he got into trouble again that same day, he would get two smacks on each palm and the abuse would accumulate from there. On at least one occasion he received seventeen smacks on his palms.

As part of the police investigation, a search warrant was executed at Potroz’s home and the wooden spoon, spatula and ‘‘The Rodney’’ were found.

When police examined the leather strap, they found writing on it. One one side it said ‘‘The Rod’’ along with Proverbs 13.24, which is commonly referred to as ‘‘spare the rod, spoil the child’’.

On the other side of the strap it said ‘‘Heavy duty sh..’’.

Potroz, 26, previously pleaded guilty to two charges of assaulting a child and two of assault with a blunt instrument.

At Wednesday’s hearing in the Ha¯wera District Court, Potroz’s lawyer Nathan Bourke argued against a recommendation made by the probation service to send his client to jail.

He said there had been a breakdown in communication between the service and Potroz, who had failed to provide them with an address to be assessed for an electronically monitored sentence.

But Bourke said this ‘‘frustration’’ did not warrant a prison term for his client and he asked Judge Chris Sygrove to impose community work along with a supervisory sentence.

Potroz was sentenced to 12 months’ intensive supervision and ordered to do 150 hours of community work. - Deena Coster