A man was released on bail after being accused of punching his daughter in the face. ACT Courts. Photo: Albert McKnight.
A father accused of punching his 16-year-old daughter in the head while they were in front of other children has been released on bail after telling a Canberra court his child had “made up lies”.
Court documents show that late on Saturday night (1 May), the man was in his lounge room along with the girl and another of his children, who had three friends over.
The 16-year-old asked her dad, who is aged in his late 30s, if she could invite some friends over as well, but he did not want people he did not know coming over late in the night and they started to argue.
He allegedly verbally abused his young daughter and said he “didn’t want her to be there”.
When he tried to take her phone away from her, they allegedly had a fight, during which he reportedly grabbed her hair and punched her on the cheek, eyebrow and nose.
His daughter also allegedly kicked him in the stomach and head before running from the house.
Police were called to the home by one of the three friends, who alleged she had seen the 16-year-old get punched.
Speaking over audiovisual link in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday (3 May), where he was applying for bail after being charged with one count of assault, the man said his daughter had “made up lies”.
“I only tried to take [her] phone off her and we had a bit of a wrestle,” he said.
“I didn’t allow her to have boys come over at one o’clock in the morning.”
The prosecutor, Ms Sheridan, opposed bail as the man had assaulted his daughter’s mother in the past and alleged that “now he’s moved on to his daughter”.
She said the girl was a “particularly vulnerable person”, being only 16, and described the alleged assault as an escalation of an argument to violence in front of others, including one of her siblings and their friends.
Ms Sheridan said Child Youth and Protection Services (CYPS) had been told about the incident.
Magistrate Glenn Theakston said while he had concerns that if someone allegedly had the capacity to be violent to one child then they also had the capacity to be violent to another, he would grant conditional bail.
He added that the allegation the man had a history of assaulting his partner and had now moved on to his own daughter was also of concern.
Magistrate Theakston did note a witness had provided a different version of what had happened, which contrasted to the girl’s version.
The bail conditions included the man not contact his children or be within 100 metres of them without the written agreement of CYPS.
The matter was adjourned to later in May.
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