Head Juror speaks out on smacking acquittal

The Head juror in this case has written to Family First's Bob McCoskrie.

What the Star Times didn’t say and Sue Bradford doesn’t know, is the child punched the step-mother in the stomach whilst she was pregnant stating he wished the baby would die. On another occasion, we saw photographs of bruising, cuts and abrasions that the son had inflicted on the step-mother – knocking her to the ground. This was her reward for attempting to prevent the child using a bicycle that didn’t belong to him. After hours and hours of searching they finally brought the child home late at night. He then went on to threaten to kill himself and the other children sleeping in the house. Conveniently, none of this is mentioned in the Star Times article – just the desperate attempts by the father to protect his family and the child from himself portrayed in a way that makes him look like a monster – he is far from it.

The Jury found both the father and the step-mother not guilty on all 15 charges presented in less than an hour.

It was not until after we had delivered our verdicts that we learned the eldest of the children and co-incidentally the boy father and step-mother had struggled with who had travelled to Hamilton for the case with his custodial parent completely trashed the Motel room supplied for their use during the trial. It was three days before the room could be put to rights enough to be used by the Motel for guests.