A sentence issued by a court in Murcia on July 5, 2022 and ratified last March by the Provincial Court of Murcia condemns a father who slapped his son after staining the car in which the child was eating an ice cream. According to the ABC newspaper, the father must carry out work for the community, compensate his son with 40 euros and stay away from him for 6 months.
The events occurred in Mallorca in July 2019, the place where the father and his two children aged 5 and 7 were spending their holidays. According to the sentence, when he was on board a rental vehicle “the boy dropped an ice cream so his father hit him in the face” As a result of the attack, the boy suffered an erythema on his right cheek, which It required initial medical assistance and it took a day to heal. On July 22, the minor returned with his mother who, seeing the mark she had on his face, took him to the doctor where the abuse protocol was activated.
The dictation includes a phone call between both parents – who are divorced – in which the father acknowledges and justifies the slap he gave his son. In the conversation, the father comments that “and what if I slap my son” and that “if I have to give him a host, I’ll give it to him”.
The sentence condemns the author of the aggression for a crime of ill-treatment in the family environment with 50 days of work for the benefit of the community and deprivation of the right to possess and carry weapons for a period of 1 year and 1 day. In the same way, the letter obliges the defendant to compensate the minor with an amount of 40 euros and prohibits the father for a period of 6 months and 1 day from approaching the minor at a distance of less than 300 meters, leaving the regime of suspension in suspension. visits, communication and stay with him.
The magistrates have concluded that “pretending that a child does not stain the car while eating ice cream is in itself a difficult desire to achieve, taking into account circumstances that may occur while driving.” In addition, they have indicated that “the parent’s behavior of throwing his hand back while driving is uneducative behavior to the extent that it implies failing to observe the circumstances of driving.”
The sentence also summarizes that “the existence of habitual abuse cannot be concluded” and that “the minor has secure ties with both parents, not appreciating negative affection towards the father.”
