A furious father whose son was given detention after an incident at school chased the boy, threw garden chairs at him, and squeezed hand sanitiser down his throat.
The 36-year-old Aberdeen man, who is not being named to protect the identity of his 13-year-old son, also slapped, kicked, and grabbed the boy by his neck.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told that the young teenager’s mum was “struggling with his behaviour at home” and had asked his dad to speak to him.
But instead of receiving a stern talking to, the boy was physically assaulted.
The 13-year-old was thrown to the ground, slapped, kicked and pinned down by his neck, the court heard.
A teacher was later told about the incident, which even included chairs being thrown at the child, and social workers and the police were then involved.
‘Sustained’ attack
The father pled guilty to a charge of assault to injury during the “sustained” attack that occurred in the bedroom, living room and garden as the boy tried to run away.
Fiscal depute Lynne MacVicar told the court that the child lived with his mother and stepdad in Aberdeen.
She said: “On Tuesday November 16 2021, the complainer received detention following an incident at school.
“On returning home, his mother contacted the accused, asking him to attend so they could speak with their son together.”
Sanitiser squeezed down boy’s throat
The father, aged 36, arrived at the address at 7pm and marched straight up to his son’s bedroom and “confronted him about his behaviour at school” while repeatedly poking him in the arm.
When the boy shouted for him to stop, he grabbed him and threw him to the floor before slapping his face while continuing to shout.
The child’s mum then tried to intervene and the boy fled to the living room but was followed by his father, who pulled him off the sofa and pushed him onto the floor.
Ms MacVicar added: “He held him down by the neck with one hand and took hand sanitiser out from his jumper pocket and squeezed the bottle on the complainer’s head.
“As a result of the accused seizing the complainer’s neck, he opened his mouth and the hand sanitiser went in and down his throat.”
‘Highly distressed’ child
The mother again tried to separate the two and the child, who was “highly distressed” ran into the garden.
Once again, he was closely followed by his father who “threw garden chairs at him” before pushing him to the ground, grabbing his neck and pinning him down.
This lasted for around 8-10 seconds and caused the child’s breathing to be restricted.
Another slap followed but the mother stepped in a third time and pushed the father away.
However, the man ran back and kicked his son’s left hip.
The child was picked up by his mother and leaned against the shed.
His father shouted: “Why are you acting like this?”
The man then grabbed the boy again, this time by the shoulders, and then swung him around by his arms, causing him to fall to the ground.
Ms MacVicar said: “The accused stood over his son for a few moments before the complainer’s stepfather appeared and instructed the accused to leave him alone”.
The child later told a teacher about the incident and social work and police were contacted.
He was left with redness to his neck and left arm and bruising to his left thigh and right arm.
The father later pled guilty to a charge of assault to injury.
‘Situation did spiral rapidly’
Defence agent Neil McRobert said: “It would appear that the child was having difficulties at school in terms of his own behaviour and that resulted in a phone call to his mum.
“His mum, in her statement to the police, makes it clear she was struggling with his behaviour at home and she asked the accused to come round to speak to him.
“His intention was to speak to him but that soon degenerated into the behaviour he’s admitted.”
Sheriff Andrew Miller described the incident as an “extremely unfortunate episode”.
He added: “It’s quite clear the situation did spiral rapidly beyond anything that would have been anticipated by the child’s mother when she contacted you.
“The end result was you assaulted your son in this quite sustained manner.”
The sheriff ordered the man to be supervised for a year and complete 120 hours of unpaid work as an alternative to custody.
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