Corpun file 15115

Aftenposten English web service, Oslo, 3 February 2005

Spanking stepfather acquitted

A 36-year-old Stavanger man has been acquitted of assault and battery after spanking his two stepsons. The court ruled that the action fell within the bounds of a parent's right to punish.

The boys were aged seven and nine in the winter of 2002/2003 when they received spankings on four separate occasions. The boys were hit hard three times across the buttocks with a flat hand while they lay on their stomachs across their stepfather's knee, newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad reports.

The 36-year-old handed out the punishment because the boys had been unruly for some time and had hit schoolmates. The deputy judge preferred to convict on the grounds that the physical punishment of children, with the exception of a "light slap", is forbidden.

The two associate judges ruled that the accused had acted only with the best interests of the boys as a motive. The court also took into account that the punishment was not dispensed in anger, but was planned and warned.

(Aftenposten English Web Desk/NTB)

© Aftenposten Multimedia.

Follow-up: 24 June 2005 - Appeals court rules against spanking