A care worker has been given a criminal record and banned from working with children for a year after striking a “physically aggressive” child who was going for her eyes with a broom.
Striking him
accidentally at that…
The eight-year-old boy, who suffered from learning disabilities, had thrown a tennis ball at Balogun’s face and attacked her with a broom after being told twice to apologise.
Lovely! But are we supposed to expect care workers to put up with it, because 'he can't help it'?
Defence counsel Susanne Cleary said: “The complainant pointed the broom at Mrs Balogun and threatened to poke her eye out.
“He was extremely physically aggressive, throwing a tennis ball at her face. All of the witnesses corroborated that.
"She asked him to stop. Other members of staff also asked him to stop doing this. He did not. He continued.
Clearly, asking nicely isn't going to work. This is not a child for whom the threat of the naughty step holds any fears.
“The complainant pointed the broom at Mrs Balogun and threatened to poke her eye out. He pushed it into her face and into her eye area.
"She asked him to refrain from doing this and he did not. He continued to use the brush to aggressively rub her face.
"She grabbed the broom and unfortunately struck the complainant in his face.
"She admits she did it by force."
Nor was she his only victim.
He attacked staff 34 times while he was at the home, the court heard.
Hmmm. Perhaps he could do with a spot of
‘negative enforcement’..? After all, it seems to work with the
higher primates…
The boy’s grandmother had previously been investigated on suspicion of assaulting him, but was not prosecuted, the court heard.
The court heard his parents had also been involved in incidents.
Oh, this sounds like a wonderful family!
Balogun, from Southwark, wept in court as she was described as being “extremely remorseful” .
Andrew Millard, lead magistrate at Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court at the sentencing on June 4, said: “This is an extremely difficult situation, but common assault is serious enough to make a community order.”
While the child in question gets away with common assault by virtue of his ‘learning disabilities’. Again and again and again…
Amazing - the feral little scum bag that will be of no use to society accept as fertiliser - destroys the careerer of a productive member of society.
ReplyDeleteA child showing that level of aggression should just be caged and the key thrown away. No loss to anyone.
Surely assault demands intent? How exactly can accidentally hitting an assailant while disarming him and defending yourself be assault?
ReplyDeleteI hope that child one day lives next to that magistrate.
ReplyDeleteSelf-defence used to be a defence didn't it? Surely she should appeal.
ReplyDeleteEither there's something here that we're not being told, or this woman had the world's worst solicitor.
ReplyDeleteSurely this is a clear case of self defence, and would be overturned on appeal - as long as she gets a lawyer who can think.
Bunny
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid of that age, if a child had acted like that it would have received a swift lesson in the application of kinetic energy via a cane. Then the useless waste of skin would have received a similar punishment from its parents for hitting a woman. Jesus wept there is no way on God's earth that woman should have been punished. No wonder these little oxygen thieves grow up to be breeding liabilities.
It's not often that you feel for the social worker and side with them.
ReplyDeleteBut then most social workers do the jobs because they think they are making a difference, but these people only last a year or two before leaving in disgust. Leaving the psychopaths behind and dragging the whole service into disrepute.
There is a document she should have been waving. Gove already clarified this:
ReplyDeleteDepartment of Education - Use of Reasonable Force
School
staff have a legal power to use force and lawful use of the power will provide a defence to any related criminal prosecution or other legal action.
Suspension should not be an automatic response when a member of staff has been accused of using excessive force.
Senior school leaders should support their staff when they use this power.
School staff should always try to avoid acting in a way that might cause injury, but in extreme cases it may not always be possible to avoid injuring the pupil.
.....
An accidental blow whilst removing the weapon from the boy before he hurt himself, the worker or another pupil, is not assault. I wonder if there is something we are not being told?
"A child showing that level of aggression should just be caged and the key thrown away. No loss to anyone."
ReplyDeleteAgreed. How can anyone be expected to work with that?
"Surely assault demands intent?"
Yet he's free of this aspect, because he's judged not to be able to help himself..
"I hope that child one day lives next to that magistrate."
Oh, yes! Perhaps that magistrate should spend a week in the school?
"Either there's something here that we're not being told, or this woman had the world's worst solicitor."
She should definitely appeal.
"No wonder these little oxygen thieves grow up to be breeding liabilities."
ReplyDeleteWith an enormous entitlement attitude!
"It's not often that you feel for the social worker and side with them."
Not on this blog, that's for certain...
"There is a document she should have been waving."
Well, quite! Perhaps the prosecution painted the strike as non-accidental?
As we seem to be seeing more and more of these kinds of reports I`m starting to think the whole eugenics/selective breeding crowd might have actually been on to something.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I can never be a teacher. Faced with that I'd have grabbed the broom, glared into the little sod's eyes and said "I'm already going to get sacked and prosecuted for stopping you, so I'm going to make it worth my feckin' while".
ReplyDeleteThen declare to the judge "I am guilty of defending myself by beating an evil little shit to a pulp before he did it to me."
Let the Daily Mail pick the bones out of that one.
"As we seem to be seeing more and more of these kinds of reports I`m starting to think the whole eugenics/selective breeding crowd might have actually been on to something."
ReplyDeleteMe too!
"Let the Daily Mail pick the bones out of that one."
I suspect the green/red arrow distribution would be interesting!
Parenting problem. if the parents are responsible enough, the child won't grew up this violent. proper conduct begins at home.
ReplyDelete