A man who a court found had slapped his three year old daughter at a busy shopping centre has been charged with attempting to interfere with a witness.

The 46-year-old appeared before Cork District Court on a charge of assaulting his daughter on July 23, 2017.

Judge Olann Kelleher ordered a Probation and Welfare Service (PWS) report after deciding that, while he found the facts proven against the man, he wanted to consider alternatives to recording a conviction.

Judge Kelleher said he wanted to consider the PWS report on the man, who had no previous convictions, after hearing the facts of the case brought under Section 2 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.

The man was further charged with attempting to interfere with a witness in the case contrary to Section 41 of the Criminal Justice Act.

The man became emotional when addressing the court on the latest charge.

"Our kid is suffering and no-one cares," he said. "Where is the heart?"

"I want my family safe. My family is not safe. My family is suffering. My kid is suffering... what do I have to do?" he asked.

The man's wife became extremely distraught during the court hearing.

Judge Kelleher recommended that the man, who initially insisted on representing himself, to accept a solicitor under the free legal aid scheme.

"I would recommend that you get a solicitor," he said.

Solicitor Eddie Burke was appointed, and applied for the matter to be adjourned and for his client to be allowed re-engage with the PWS.

Judge Kelleher adjourned both the witness interference and assault charges to February 15 next.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has already indicated that the witness interference charge can be dealt within before the district court.

Cork District Court was told by a female witness that she was near the Dunnes Stores outlet at the Bishopscourt Shopping Centre in Bishopstown, Cork on July 23, 2017.

Crying

The woman said her attention was drawn to the high-pitched sound of a child crying.

She saw a man struggling with a child by a shopping trolley.

He was trying to get the child's legs into the shopping trolley seat.

“She was trying to get her legs out. But he was trying to get them back in,” the woman said.

The woman noticed that the child was still crying and screaming as the man proceeded to do some shopping in the centre.

Later, she came across the pair back in the car park.

She said she saw the man standing by the rear of his car and swinging his hands into the back of the car.

The woman said she heard the child crying and noted that her voice was getting higher and louder in apparent distress.

A second woman at the complex said she also saw the man swinging his hands into the rear of the car - and heard a child crying.

The woman said, as she passed, she heard the man shouting in a loud voice: "Have you enough, now."

The female shopper said she was convinced the man had been slapping the child in the rear of the car.

Both women were upset about the incident.

Neither said they actually witnessed the child being struck - but were convinced about what was happening.

Photo

One said she didn't know what to do and was worried for the welfare of the child.

The woman discreetly took a photo on her smartphone of the car complete with its registration and contacted Togher Garda Station.

Garda Brian O'Connell told Judge Kelleher he identified the vehicle and its owner from the photograph.

Garda O'Connell went to the car owner's address and brought the witness testimony to his attention.

The car owner said he couldn't recall if he had been in that shopping centre three days earlier.

However, he vehemently rejected any suggestion of having struck or hurt his daughter.

CCTV footage obtained from the shopping centre did not show the man striking his child.

The man offered sworn evidence in which he denied ever hitting or slapping his daughter.

He told the court he believed the two women exaggerated or misunderstood what they had seen.

“I have never resorted to violence, I have never hit my child and I never will,” he insisted.

A doctor's report provided by the man and his family indicated the child was uninjured when examined days after the alleged Bishopstown incident.

Judge Kelleher said he had no doubt from the man's evidence that he was a good parent.

He described it as a very sad case but said the evidence of the two independent witnesses was both compelling and credible.

The case has since been referred to Tusla, the child protection agency.

Online Editors