Child airlifted after bamboo stick attack

A TORRES Strait Islander who attacked his seven-yearold son with a bamboo stick and broke it as he struck him over the head went to find another stick and continued his “gratuitous” assault, a court has heard.

The man in his 30s, who cannot be named as it would identify a child victim of crime, appeared in the Cairns District Court on Friday.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm while armed.

The court heard the child had to be flown to Thursday Island for treatment because of the 6cm wide, 1cm deep laceration on his head, which required 11 stitches. Crown prosecutor Seamus McManus said the man coerced the child to lie about what had happened to him, concocting a story that he had been running down the road and tripped and hit his head on concrete.

The boy also had bruising on his left arm and bruising and swelling to the back and side of his head, the court heard.

The court was told the boy was running down the side of a house when he tripped over another child, prompting the man to arm himself.

He was left “dazed” by the initial blow, and was still on the ground when the man returned to continue his assault with a new stick. When the true nature of the man’s offending was put to him by police, he said it was the “child’s version” of events, Mr McManus said.

The maximum penalty for assault occasioning bodily harm while armed is 10 years imprisonment.

A victim impact statement written by another family member was tendered and read to the court, outlining that the boy now not only bore physical scars, but psychological ones.

“We trusted you to be his protector but you brought him harm,” the family member said.

“We the family of (the boy) forgive you for what you have done. We pray the Lord God will also forgive you.”

Defence barrister James Sheridan described his client’s behaviour as “deplorable” and said he had been taking “positive steps towards addressing this sort of inexcusable behaviour”.

Mr Sheridan said his client, at the time of the offending in September 2020, found himself “simply ill-equipped to cope with the demands of being a new husband, father, and the responsibilities of (his work) positions”.

“Be that as it may, that’s a common theme that fathers have to undertake when they take on the responsibility of the care of children,” Mr Sheridan said.

The court heard that in the aftermath of the man’s offending, the couple lost their house and relocated to the Atherton region.

Judge Nathan Jarro said the man should be ashamed of what he did.

“Under no circumstances should any child be subjected to violence at the hands of any person, let alone a man,” he said.

“It was a cowardly act which was entirely unprovoked upon a child in your care.”

Taking into account his steps toward rehabilitation and his early plea of guilty, Judge Jarro sentenced him to two years imprisonment, with immediate release on parole.