Child disciplined with knife
A MAN who used a knife to discipline a child will be sentenced in Mackay Magistrates Court today.
The girl had been misbehaving and the man took an extreme preventative step, the court was told on Friday.
The girl had been in her bedroom playing with her mother's mobile phone, without permission, with a blanket over her head, prosecutor Bimal Raut said.
Not happy with this, the man, who cannot be named, walked the child into the kitchen.
"(He) took out a knife and held it to the child's arm, telling her that in some countries if a person misbehaves then they would have their arm chopped off," Mr Raut said.
The girl began to struggle and during the struggle the knife the man was holding cut her a number of times, Mr Raut said.
He didn't intend to cut her, it was accidental.
She had superficial cuts to her upper left and right arms and chest and a bruise to her upper left thigh where he held her, the court heard.
The girl is the daughter of the man's de facto partner, who came into the kitchen on hearing the girl scream during the struggle.
The 31-year-old man pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm while armed.
Magistrate Ross Risson ordered he be held in the watch-house for the weekend.
The incident was brought to police attention on March 27 this year after a teacher at the girl's school noticed a number of bandages on her arms.
The girl admitted the man had struck her with a knife, the court heard.
During an interview with police on March 31, the man said the girl "had been misbehaving a lot and he was worried she would turn out like her biological father, who was a liar and a thief," Mr Raut told the court.
Defence solicitor Gail Hinschen said the man had no criminal history and was in Australia on a 457 Visa.
He was extremely remorseful and the relationship with the child had since returned "to a loving relationship," she said.
The man had been trying to show where lying and stealing could end up, Ms Hinschen said.
He didn't intend to cut her.
The man will re-appear in the Mackay Magistrates Court today for sentencing.
