Click photo to enlarge
Inspector Derek Erasmus commenting today on the setencing
of James Mason for assaultng his child. Photo by NZPA.
A Christchurch musician escaped jail today for punching
his four-year-son in a case which a judge and police said was
never a test case for the child smacking laws.
James Mason, 49, was sentenced to nine months supervision and
ordered to undergo anger management courses after earlier
being found guilty of assaulting his son, the Christchurch
Court News website reported.
"This is not a case that would have been dealt with any
differently prior to the legislation being changed," said
Christchurch District Court Judge Michael Crosbie at Mason's
sentencing.
Christchurch police central area commander Inspector Derek
Erasmus was just as blunt.
"This was not a test case. It was simply a case of a child
being punched in the face and the police taking appropriate
action."
Mason was found guilty of pulling his four-year-old son's ear
and punching him in the face. He was acquitted of two other
charges of assault in respect of the four-year-old and
another son.
The case was widely seen as a test of the anti-smacking laws
because Mason publicly claimed that he had done no more than
administer a flick on the ear.
Outside the court today, Mason continued to deny pulling his
son's ear.
He described a policewoman's evidence as "a pile of crap".
Defence counsel Elizabeth Bulger said it was impossible to
say from the verdict whether the jury accepted the
ear-pulling or punching had been proved, because the charge
referred to both.
The offending had occurred in difficult circumstances, and
Mason had no previous convictions. She sought a discharge
without conviction for him.
Crown prosecutor Deirdre Elsmore said the eye-witness
evidence had been clear and compelling. A discharge without
conviction might have been appropriate for ear-pulling, but
would not be appropriate for the punching of the child.
She did not accept Mason's claim that the conviction and
publicity might affect his employment -- he had courted the
publicity.
Judge Crosbie said the case was described by the crown as an
inappropriate response in a stressful parenting situation.
The children had gone down a ramp on a bridge on their bikes
and one had fallen and hurt his head. They were then scolded
and one of them was assaulted by Mason, the jury found.
"It remains a case of an assault on a child, as it would have
prior to the legislation being enacted," the judge told
Mason.
"You don't accept the facts but you do say that in hindsight
you should have been able to manage the situation in a calmer
manner and not reacted in the way you described."
He said a discharge without conviction was not appropriate.
"It is clear the jury found there was a punch and you
admitted as much to the police."
