Mediaite.com:
Two people in British Columbia have been found guilty of
assault with a weapon after severely beating their daughter as a
punishment for sending nude photos over the Internet. They claim that
she consented to the corporal punishment when given the choice between
that and a grounding.
The Toronto Sun reports that the
father used a small hockey stick to strike the 14-year-old over her
pajama pants two or three times and the mother used a jump rope to do
the same. She appeared at school the next day with lacerations and
bruises, prompting her friends to tell administrators. The school then
brought it to the attention of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The father testified that he was unaware using corporal punishment
was against Canadian law. He had been using “the rod” to punish his
child, as advocated by the Christian Bible. This all troubled Judge Edmond de Walle, who concluded that the teen could not have consented to such a forceful punishment.
“The parents took no educative or
corrective steps by seeking out expert help or any other assistance to
discuss their daughter’s actions with her. Their actions were solely
punitive and not corrective,” he said, though he maintained that he was
not saying they should not have taken issue with her sending the photos.
OK, normally in these uber-liberal times I'd side with a parents right discipline their kids however they want. But using a 'small hockey stick' and 'jump rope' to beat your kids?!? That's just excessive. I mean, what happened to a good 'ol belt?
