Salmon Arm Parents Found Guilty of Assault for Spanking Daughter

The BC provincial court has handed down a charge of assault against two Salmon Arm parents after they disciplined their daughter with a hockey stick and skipping rope.

On February 14^th, 2015 the parents, who cannot be named because of a publication ban, assaulted their daughter with a mini hockey stick and a skipping rope. The father and the mother both entered a plea of not guilty. The girl, who was 14 at the time, was struck on the butt with the plastic mini hockey stick by her father. On the same day, the girl was struck on the butt by her mother using a skipping rope.

According to court documents, the girl’s father took away her cell phone because she was texting with a young man and was found to have been sending him nude photographs of herself. The daughter sent the nude pictures through a site called “Snapchat.” The daughter believed that the photos only lasted a few seconds after transmission using the “Snapchat” site. The parents never actually saw the nude photos that were sent by their daughter in December 2014.

Later that same day the girl and her father were planning on attending a hockey game in Kamloops, but her father confronted her about the nude photos. The two discussed what form of punishment the girl would receive as a result and it was decided that she would lose both her cellphone and iPad for a very long time. She was grounded and not permitted to have friends over.

“The daughter subsequently recalled that her father offered her two options: to be grounded for a really long time or to be spanked. She opted for the spanking because she did not want to be grounded as that would affect her sports activities,” said Judge De Walle in his statement. “The child understood that her parent’s beliefs about discipline came from their adherence to the Bible which they believe advocates the use of the “rod” to spank, rather than hands, as hands are to be used as instruments of love.”

The girl received a spanking with the hockey stick by her father. When her mother arrived home she was told about the nude photos and she was upset, picked up a skipping rope, and struck her daughter two or three times on the butt. Both parents told the girl they were giving the punishment out of love, not hate. The following day the girl went to school and told two friends about what had happened and showed them the red, swollen, and heavily bruised buttocks. The school principal was told about the incident and the Ministry of Children and Family were contacted as well as the RCMP.

The judge found that that the spankings were not “applied for corrective purposes” and were not reasonable. “At the very least the father’s evidence leads me to conclude that he gave little thought, if any, to possible injuries suffered by his daughter.”

“It is my finding that the force applied to the child was clearly not intended for educative or corrective purposes. The father testified that his purpose in spanking the daughter was for punishment. He was unable to articulate any other purpose for the spanking,” continued the judge’s decision.

The judge concluded that 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.