Durban - The difference between smacking a child as a form of punishment by a parent and assaulting a child was argued in the Durban High Court trial involving a mother and grandmother accused of abusing and killing their 3-year-old daughter and grandchild.
The mother’s lawyer, advocate Murray Pitman, proposed that although assaulting a child was a criminal offence, an intellectually disabled person with a mild disability, a severe head injury and a drug problem may be influenced to do certain things.
He said this during his cross-examination on Tuesday of psychologist Emily Elkington. Her evidence-in-chief was about her psychological assessment in 2015 of Baby X’s mother, whom she found mentally fit to stand trial because she could distinguish the difference between right and wrong.
Pitman raised the question as to whether smacking your child with a spoon or a shoe labelled one a bad parent.
“You will agree with me that hitting a child with a spoon or a shoe happens, but murder is a far more serious offence. When I was at school, it was expected you got six lashes on the bum with a cane (for a transgression). I will be right if I say there are certain things that are acceptable and those that are not.
