Man who slapped son (8) over toileting issues jailed for one year and eight months

Niamh O'Donoghue and Eimear Dodd

A man who slapped his eight-year-old son over toileting issues eight years ago has been jailed for one year and eight months.

The man (45) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to child cruelty and assault causing harm to the boy in June 2018. He has six previous convictions, all for offences under section 33 of the Domestic Violence Act against the boy’s mother.

He cannot be named to protect the now teenage boy's right to anonymity.

On Thursday, Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin said the man's actions were a “breach of parental trust” and made more serious by his responsibility towards his son.

The judge noted this was a once-off incident, which the man self-reported.

Psychological impact

She said that the physical impacts were less serious than the psychological and that the man's relationship with his son has since “completely ruptured”.

Referring to the victim impact statement, the judge noted that the boy said he was experiencing anxiety, which the court processes, including family law, would have contributed to.

The judge noted the man's guilty plea, the delay in the case and that the loss of his relationship with his son is a “punishment in itself”.

She imposed a sentence of two years and four months, with the final eight months suspended on strict conditions including 12 months of supervision by the Probation Services post-release.

The man, who was representing himself, interrupted the finalisation of sentence several times. He told the judge at the end of the hearing that “I believe you have been fair to me” and also asked about appealing the length of the sentence.

He then said he had been “dragged down here [the Criminal Courts of Justice] to keep me from Dolphin House” and that he “never made it” to a hearing there on the same date as the last sentence hearing.

The judge told the man he could appeal the length of the sentence to the Court of Appeal if he wished.

The court previously heard that the man self-reported the offending to the authorities when he had a telephone call with his son’s teacher to update him on his progress. He told the teacher the boy was soiling towels and clothes with faeces and hid them around the house.

Tusla referral

He said he smacked the child as a result of toileting issues and that he knew this was wrong. He said he smacked the boy on the buttocks and the upper thighs. His teacher hadn’t noticed anything untoward but a child referral was sent to Tusla.

The court heard the man was separated from the child’s mother. A social care leader spoke to the man after he self-reported the incident in December 2019 but Tusla had no record of it, the court heard.

A Tusla worker called the boy’s mother who said she was aware of the smacking incident and photographed the marks on the child two days later.

These photos were shown to the judge. The court heard the photos depicted bruising on the boy’s buttocks and lower legs. The court heard she did not report it to Tusla.

Gardai met with the boy’s mother in May, 2020. In June 2018, the man told her that he smacked the boy the previous day. She noticed the boy had extensive bruising and that he was upset and was pointing to his thighs.

The court heard it took a number of days for the bruising to heal and the boy did not want to see his father after that and has only seen him twice since June 2018 when he was upset both times.

A specialist interview was organised in August 2020 but the boy did not want to do the interview. When the man was arrested, he admitted spanking the child with an open hand.

He said the child was defecating in his underwear and on a towel before hiding them. The man said he spun the child around and told gardaí: “when I spanked him I did it like I meant it, I didn’t know my own strength.”

The man said he stopped when the boy’s buttocks and legs turned red. He said he told the boy’s mother “he had lost it”. He also said he told the boy’s teacher in 2019. The man was released from detention without charge.

In April 2024, the boy said he wanted to provide a statement. In the course of the interview he said that on a visit to his father's house he had a bowel issue. He said his father dragged him into the bathroom and slapped him.

The boy said he remembered the noise that the slapping made, and his legs were shaking, but his father kept on hitting him. He said his father was constantly shouting while hitting him and saying: “why do you keep doing this? I’m getting sick of it now. You have to sort this out.”

His father shouted at him and told him to go to bed. His father went to the sitting room where he slept when he was visiting him. The boy said it hurt him very badly and it was a lot worse than a normal bruise, and it was sore to sit down.

On October 22, 2024, gardai called the man and told him there were directions to charge him. The man acknowledged he spanked his son.

The man has six previous convictions, all for offences under section 33 of the Domestic Violence Act against the boy’s mother.

The child was not present but did make a victim impact statement, which was read to the court by the investigating garda. The boy described how the man he “sadly” called his biological father has affected him.

The now-teenage boy said his father was a “huge part of why I am anxious today.” He said he was certain his father had his home address so he “slept with a rubber mallet.”

Addressing the court, the man said “the situation has brought out the worst of me”.