BC Parents Who Hit Their Daughter Over Sexting Convicted Of Assault

A BC couple who hit their teenage daughter with a plastic hockey stick and skipping rope as punishment for sexting has been convicted of assault with a weapon.

The parents, who live in Salmon Arm, found out their 14-year-old daughter had texted and snapped naked photos to a guy she liked, according to a provincial court decision released last week.

"The accused father told his daughter that she needed to respect herself and not to throw herself at boys," according to the decision. He then took her into the garage and offered her a choice between being grounded or being spanked; she chose the latter because she didn't want to miss out on sports.

The girl's dad smacked her on the butt with an 18-inch plastic hockey stick while her mom used a jump rope. When she went to school, the girl told her friends what had happened and showed them where she'd been hit. Noticing her butt was "red and swollen and covered in bruises which were purple and green," they reported the incident to the school principal, who called the Ministry of Children and Familes.

Testifying in court, the father said he was raised being spanked and had "no clue" that his punishment might have been against the law. He said the family is Christian and doesn't believe hands should be used to spank kids, because they're "instruments of love."

But Judge Edmond de Walle said the parents actions were solely punitive and degrading.

"She suffered injuries that, in my view, were not of a transitory or trifling nature," he wrote. "The manner in which the parents used force and the injuries that resulted, lead me to conclude that the spanking in this case amounted to excessive corporal punishment."

Spanking could soon be completely banned in Canada if the Liberal government follows through enacting all recommendations by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

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