"discipline was the best thing that ever happened to me" - Timaru boy
"...A 30-second sting on the bum has cost my son three years of life with his family. And I'm still fighting for custody of my son. It hasn't mattered that I was found not guilty..."
For the full article, - Fearful of Bradford's bill, click here
This is the riding crop and cane used in the ``horse whip'' case. It has been supplied by the woman who used them as she believes people have the wrong idea of what was involved.
A warning was issued yesterday that families will be ruined under Green MP Sue Bradford's proposed anti-smacking bill. Rachael Comer reports.
A former Timaru woman at the centre of the infamous "horse whip case" says she is fearful of Sue Bradford's bill.
The woman, whose name is suppressed to protect the identity of the child involved, fears that other parents will encounter the same destruction she, and her family, have endured, should the bill become law.
In 2005 a jury in the Timaru District Court acquitted the woman of assaulting her 13-year-old son with a bamboo cane and a riding crop. However, further unrelated assault charges have been laid against the woman, and her partner, and they will appear in the Timaru District
Court on April 12.
Despite being found not guilty the woman says, since the court case, Child, Youth and Family have treated her as guilty.
"A 30-second sting on the bum has cost my son three years of life with his family.
"And I'm still fighting for custody of my son. It hasn't mattered that I was found not guilty."
She claims the incident was "totally controlled. The anti-smacking bill is opening up for a lot of trouble."
"It's entirely destructive and that's what will happen to average families. They will be ruined." Under the law parents would not be allowed to discipline their childrenby way of correction, she said.
"There's a difference between discipline and beating. Look what happens now, disciplining has been taken out of schools."
The woman claims she used every form of non-physical discipline on her son and he hadn't responded.
"I really love my boy and I didn't have a choice. I've been painted as being violent even when I'm not."
She denies being reported as saying the Bible justified her actions. "It being for religious reasons was a load of bull" [she said].
"They've been painting me as some sort of religious nutter which couldn't be further from the truth."
"But he says the discipline was the best thing that ever happened to him."
The bill recently passed its second reading in Parliament by 70 votes to 51.
The Timaru Herald | Saturday, 10 March 2007
For the full article, - Fearful of Bradford's bill, click here
This is the riding crop and cane used in the ``horse whip'' case. It has been supplied by the woman who used them as she believes people have the wrong idea of what was involved.
A warning was issued yesterday that families will be ruined under Green MP Sue Bradford's proposed anti-smacking bill. Rachael Comer reports.
A former Timaru woman at the centre of the infamous "horse whip case" says she is fearful of Sue Bradford's bill.
The woman, whose name is suppressed to protect the identity of the child involved, fears that other parents will encounter the same destruction she, and her family, have endured, should the bill become law.
In 2005 a jury in the Timaru District Court acquitted the woman of assaulting her 13-year-old son with a bamboo cane and a riding crop. However, further unrelated assault charges have been laid against the woman, and her partner, and they will appear in the Timaru District
Court on April 12.
Despite being found not guilty the woman says, since the court case, Child, Youth and Family have treated her as guilty.
"A 30-second sting on the bum has cost my son three years of life with his family.
"And I'm still fighting for custody of my son. It hasn't mattered that I was found not guilty."
She claims the incident was "totally controlled. The anti-smacking bill is opening up for a lot of trouble."
"It's entirely destructive and that's what will happen to average families. They will be ruined." Under the law parents would not be allowed to discipline their childrenby way of correction, she said.
"There's a difference between discipline and beating. Look what happens now, disciplining has been taken out of schools."
The woman claims she used every form of non-physical discipline on her son and he hadn't responded.
"I really love my boy and I didn't have a choice. I've been painted as being violent even when I'm not."
She denies being reported as saying the Bible justified her actions. "It being for religious reasons was a load of bull" [she said].
"They've been painting me as some sort of religious nutter which couldn't be further from the truth."
"But he says the discipline was the best thing that ever happened to him."
The bill recently passed its second reading in Parliament by 70 votes to 51.
The Timaru Herald | Saturday, 10 March 2007
posted by Andy at
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