Father admits himself to mental ward
A ROCKHAMPTON father broke his son's arm when the five-year-old laughed at him through a window.
The 50-year-old father-of-three told police he sent the boy and his sibling to their bedroom as punishment and saw his son laughing at him through a house window.
The man, who cannot be named, said he "snapped".
He went to the bedroom and began shaking the child before throwing him onto a mattress.
Prosecutor Karen Dunham said the man told the child: "Don't laugh at Daddy."
With his wife and children in Rockhampton Magistrate's Court to support him yesterday, the man pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm.
Ms Dunham said he and his wife immediately took the boy to Rockhampton Hospital where staff alerted police to the incident.
The man then admitted himself to the mental health ward of the hospital and was treated there for two weeks.
Ms Dunham said when police finally spoke with the man, he was extremely remorseful and broke down several times.
The duty lawyer representing him, Anne Knight, said the man was under immense stress at the time of the incident.
Ms Knight said the family-of-five was living together in one bedroom at the house of the man's in-laws because he had lost his job three months after suffering a workplace injury.
She said the man had been cleared by child services to return to his family.
Acting Magistrate Tom Bradshaw placed him on 15 months probation.
He was extremely remorseful and broke down several times
