'Do not trust me. I will steal from you as I am a THIEF': Mother makes young son wear humiliating sign



A seaside town in Australia is in uproar over the punishment a mother has handed out to her young son, making him wear a sign in public labelling him a thief.



'Do not trust me. I will steal from you as I am a thief,' the sign around his neck read as he stood in a park in Townsville in Queensland.



The boy, aged about 10, remained standing with his head lowered in shame while his family ate lunch nearby.



Humiliation: The young boy was forced to wear the sign around his neck in a Townsville park

But his humiliation did not end there - he was made to wear Shrek ears and was also seen writing lines, believed to say repeatedly that he would not steal.



While his family may have deemed the public humiliation applicable, parents who saw the boy wearing the sign were appalled.

One woman, Diane Mayers, said she was so 'horrified' that she contacted the local child safety services.



She told the Townsville Bulletin newspaper: ' The boy just kept his head down and was staring at the ground .



'A lot of people walked past and were laughing at him.'



The punishment was also condemned by child psychologist Nicole Pierotti - herself a mother - who said she was shocked that this treatment was used.



'Humiliation is not the best way to punish the child,' she said. 'This gives the child the message that they should be sneakier.



'He's learning, "don't get caught".



'It also makes you wonder what else goes on in the family. Parents are supposed to be the people a child can trust.'



Miss Pierotti said that if the child had stolen something from a shop, it would have been far more appropriate to make him go back to the premises and admit to what he had done.

