A Muslim man who laughed over his trembling five-year-old son as his family prepared for the boy's 'execution' claims he was teaching him honesty.

Kiimatangiroa​ Junior Samuel, 41, from Hastings, New Zealand made his son collect a hammer and kneel on white sheets so he could be 'executed' for running around a mosque during prayer time on February 26 this year.

A court heard Samuel made his other children aged seven, nine and 10 collect sheets to stop the blood from the execution 'getting on the floor',Stuff reported.

A Muslim man who laughed over his trembling five-year-old son as his family prepared for the boy's 'execution' claims he was teaching him honesty

Once the execution had been set up the 41-year-old man told his older children to 'look away so you don't see all the blood'.

The five-year-old cried as he was made to close his eyes, before his father laughed out loud at the scene.

The man told the court he never intended on carrying out the death threat.

Judge Max Courtney said it was 'the cruellest set of facts I have ever come across' before sentencing him to four-and-a-half years behind bars for threatening to kill.

'It's horrendous... It is certainly not the way you instill honesty and truthfulness in your children,' he said.

The father also plead guilty to nine other charges of assault against his young children.

The court heard the man would often twist his children's arms and hit them with a broom daily.

The judge rejected the man's claims that he treated his children in line with his culture.