Father faces sentencing for slapping his daughter

A MAN who slapped his threeyear-old daughter during a struggle to place her in the family car at a busy shopping centre is co-operating fully with Probation and Welfare Service (PWS) officials.

The revelation came as the 46-year-old – who cannot be named for legal reasons – also faces a charge of attempting to interfere with a witness.

Judge Olann Kelleher, at Cork District Court, adjourned sentencing of the man on the child-slapping charge until the witness interference issue is fully resolved.

Eddie Burke, defence solicitor, said he had only received CCTV footage from gardaí in relation to the alleged witness interference charge in the past 24 hours and needed to view it.

Mr Burke confirmed that his client was co-operating fully with the PWS.

Judge Kelleher said he wanted to deal with both matters at the same time and adjourned them to March 8 next.

The defendant appeared on a charge of assaulting his daughter on July 23, 2017.

Judge Kelleher ordered the PWS report after deciding that, while he found the facts proven against the man, he wanted to consider alternatives to recording a conviction.

The man, who is not Irish, had vehemently denied slapping his child at the shopping centre.

He now also faces a charge of attempting to interfere with a witness in the case contrary to Section 41 of the Criminal Justice Act.

Two witnesses had told the court of hearing a child screaming loudly at Bishopscourt Shopping Centre in Bishopstown and seeing a man swinging his hands into the back of the parked car.

One woman said, as she passed, she heard the man shouting in a loud voice: “Have you enough, now.”