Jail term for whipping truant, 10, upheld

An Auckland mother has lost a High Court appeal against a 15-month jail term for her second offence of assaulting one of her children.

The woman took to the 10-year-old boy with a length of hose pipe for skipping school last May.

A year earlier, she had been sentenced to six months' supervision after she struck her daughter about 10 times on the hands with a mop. The girl suffered cuts and bruising.

In the second incident, Justice Geoffrey Venning upheld the 15-month term imposed in Manukau.

The judge said the woman and her husband had learned their son was not attending school. In front of his siblings, his mother whacked him 10 to 15 times around the legs, arms, back and head with the hose as he tried to protect his head with his arms.

His father - who has still to be sentenced - then hit him four or five times around the legs. The boy, who suffered numerous welts and bruising, fled to a neighbour, who called police.

Justice Venning said that 15 months' jail was not manifestly excessive in the circumstances.

- NZPA