Christchurch man James Mason, who yesterday had his conviction for assaulting his four-year-old son quashed, says he hopes the decision will not encourage parents to be violent toward children.
James Louis Mason, 53, was found guilty at a Christchurch District Court trial last year of punching his son in the face and pulling his ear in December 2007. He was acquitted on two other assault charges.
Mr Mason denied all charges, but said he pulled the child's hair and flicked his ear to stop him going back into a dangerous situation on his bike.
He was sentenced to nine months supervision and ordered to undertake programmes as directed by the Probation Service.
In a decision released yesterday, the Supreme Court quashed the conviction, saying two counts of assault had been included in one charge.
"It was therefore entirely possible that some members of the jury might find him guilty on the basis of the ear-pulling only, while other members might find him guilty on the basis of punching only, so that there would not be unanimity on either basis," the decision said.
Mr Mason told NZPA the case had hung over his family for three years so to at last have the case finished was a relief, although it did not feel like he had been completely cleared.
"It doesn't vindicate me. Seriously speaking, if you look at it logically, there are still people out there now who're going to say 'well, he probably still would've punched his kid but he got off on a court technicality'," he said.
"So when people say 'it's good to see you won', it isn't really winning."
Mr Mason said he hoped the court's decision would not encourage violence towards children, but, having heard the opinions of some people who recognised him on the street, he agreed it might have such an effect.
"A dude will walk up and say 'good on you mate, I'd do that to my bloody kid too. If I had to punch him I would'. And I go 'yeah, well dude I'm not that kind of person and you need to curb your thought'," he said.
"Most of it's a total negative for me because, realistically, I'm not into hitting kids. That sounds paradoxical because I've smacked all of my kids maybe three or four times in their entire lives, but I don't beat the shit out of them and I don't punch them.
"So I live in this almost contradictory world where I don't agree with it, but sometimes it's the only appropriate thing you can do to circumvent the situation."
Mr Mason said he did not feel his views were being properly represented in Parliament and he intended to possibly get involved in politics.
NZPA
source: newshub archive
