A “cruel” and “sadistic”
father could spend almost three years behind bars after he rubbed chilli
sauce in the eyes and mouths of his two young sons and beat them with a
stick when they misbehaved at school.
Described
by a judge as “extreme violence” that “went way beyond anything that
could be considered acceptable physical punishment”, Abdiwali Ahmed Aden
left his 10-year-old and eight-year-old sons with bruising and
potential scarring after repeatedly striking them with sticks in 2016.
District Court Judge Gillian Braddock last week sentenced the father to
two years and nine months jail over the brutality. She said to then rub
chilli sauce in the boys’ faces “went so far beyond what might be
regarded as punishment for misbehaviour as to be sadistic cruelty”.
Judge
Braddock said Aden, 44, had learnt his children had been in trouble at
school before he took a stick and subjected them to an “excessive
beating” to their arms, legs and backs, leaving them with injuries that
were still visible when doctors examined the pair 10 days later.
It
was during the same attack — and in subsequent violent episodes also
sparked by apparent misbehaviour at school — Aden rubbed chilli in the
boys’ eyes and mouths despite protests from his wife, who went to police
the following week.
“To subject anybody, but
especially a young child, to assault by applying chilli sauce to the
vulnerable part of the face ... is so remarkable and cruel, it is hard
to believe that any father would do such a thing,” Judge Braddock said.
Aden,
who admitted using a stick to discipline the boys during his trial in
December but said he struck only their hands and arms, was convicted of
repeatedly assaulting the boys and engaging in conduct that may result
in harm to a child.
He was also found guilty
of attacking his wife in an act of jealousy in 2013, punching her,
knocking her down and stamping on her head until she passed out. In one
of his rages, Aden hit his eldest son on the ankle with a metal
broomstick so hard it swelled up and he struggled to walk.
Judge
Braddock noted the father, who had a traumatic background and witnessed
his mother’s murder in Somalia before arriving in Australia as a
refugee in 2007, had wanted his children to take advantage of the
education to which he did not have access.
But
she said his behaviour had “the potential to cause a child serious
harm”. “What was required perhaps of you for these boys was stern
advice, perhaps encouragement,” she said.
“Even a smack in some circumstances would not put you in the place where you are now.