A FATHER has been charged with child abuse after he chucked his two-year-old daughter into a swimming pool to teach her a lesson.

Corey McCarthy’s actions were picked by a surveillance camera at the pool in Phoenix, Arizona, reported AZFamily.com.

McCarthy reportedly told police that he threw his daughter Mia into the pool after she had dropped a five-month-old puppy dog in the pool and it drowned.

He allegedly wanted to teach Mia a lesson about playing around in water. The footage shows a woman thought to be McCarthy’s girlfriend, who was in the pool at the time, racing across to grab Mia before she sinks to the bottom of the pool.

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Mia’s mother Samantha, who is separated from her husband, alleged that McCarthy did more than just throw her into the pool.

“You see him taunting her, like throwing her like he’s gonna, then he’s not, throwing her like he’s gonna, then he’s not,” she told AZFamily.com.

“What people don’t know is also in the beginning of the video, he hoses her down with a water hose to kind of torture her that way.

“I am very angry and I’m very hurt ... People make mistakes, but this is past a poor decision and a mistake. This is a child.”

According to court documents, Phoenix Police Department responded to a child abuse call from Mia’s mother.

Sergeant Trent Crump said the surveillance video, given to him by Mia’s mother, shows the child was left unattended by the pool for about 25 minutes. During that time Mia threw two dogs into the water. One of them apparently drowned, said Sgt Crump.

Witnesses allegedly told police that when McCarthy was told about the dogs, he threw Mia into the water to teach her a lesson.

When interviewed by police, McCarthy admitted to throwing the toddler into the pool and then dropping her in a second time, saying he was trying to teach her to be afraid of the water after she had gone near the pool earlier.

Phoenix Police said two counts of child abuse charges were filed as in the state of Arizona discipline must be considered reasonable and not carried out in anger.

McCarthy remains in jail.