‘It kind of hurt my heart’
Judge finds man guilty of assaulting, threatening nine-year-old daughter
A P.E.I. man who said his nine-year-old daughter embarrassed him in front of his friends was found guilty Friday of assaulting and threatening the girl.
The man, who The Guardian has chosen not to identify in order to protect the girl’s identity, appeared before Judge Nancy Orr in provincial court in Charlottetown for a trial on one count of uttering a threat and two counts of assault.
Orr found him guilty of assaulting the girl and uttering a threat to her but found him not guilty of assaulting the girl’s mother.
During the trial, the girl testified by video from a courtroom in New Brunswick about the incident at her father’s home in P.E.I. where she was staying with her mother at the time.
On the night of the assault, the girl and her mother were playing radio bingo inside the house while her father was in the garage with two of his friends.
After bingo finished, the girl and her mother went to the garage where the victim said something that she told the court made her father mad.
The girl testified that she didn’t know what she said that made him angry, but she had made comments about him not doing much with her and that he slept in his underwear.
Her father told her it was time for bed and when he did, he had a mad look on his face, the girl said.
She testified that once they were outside, her father told her to get in the house before he killed her.
The girl said he then grabbed her by the hair and threw her through the doorway into the house where she fell, hurting her knee. She said he also grabbed her by the arm leaving a handprint.
Although several witnesses gave different versions of what happened, they were consistent in saying the girl’s mother, who was also outside, grabbed the man and punched him in the face after seeing what he did.
“By that time, I was really crying, and it was really scary,” the girl said.
During her testimony, the girl said her father told her he never wanted to see her again.
“It kind of made me feel like I was the worst daughter ever.”
After the assault, the girl’s father told her mother to get their things and leave, which they did.
As she testified, the girl said the assault and threat not only hurt her physically but also “inside”.
Crown attorney Jeff MacDonald asked the girl what she meant, to which she responded that it hurt her feelings and made her sad.
“It kind of hurt my heart a little,” she said.
When the girl’s father testified, he told the court he couldn’t remember exactly what the girl said in the garage, but they were things a child shouldn’t say in front of other people.
“I was embarrassed,” he said.
He testified the girl was upset and apologized, after which he said, “I could kill you.”
It was an expression of his disappointment and not a threat, he said.
“Was it the wrong choice of words? Yes.”
He denied assaulting his daughter and said he grabbed her to help her up after she tripped going into the house.
After hearing all of the testimony, Orr said the man telling the girl he could kill her because of his embarrassment seemed out of proportion to the situation.
Orr also said she didn’t accept his testimony that he was just helping the girl up after she tripped.
The man will be back in court March 19 for sentencing.