Wednesday February 3, 2016 www.saobserver.net $1.25 GST Included
Shiver me timbers Sarah Ewanyshyn, a Grade 1 student at Bastion Elementary, gets ready to ski in the annual Pirate Loppet, which had more than 500 students from around the region participate in the annual, non-competitive cross-country ski event on Friday, Jan. 29 at Larch Hills Ski Area. See more on A14 and A19.
Parents found guilty for spanking teen Court: Punishment for daughter’s nude Snapchat photo leads to assault conviction for couple. By Tim Petruk KAMlOOPS THIS WeeK
Two Salmon Arm parents have been convicted of assault with a weapon after spanking their 14-year-old daughter – one with a mini-hockey stick, the other a skipping rope – after learning she sent nude photos on the mobile app Snapchat. The accused cannot be named to protect the identity of their daughter. On Valentine’s day 2015, the father seized his daughter’s cellphone after she renewed acquaintances with a young man her fam-
ily did not like. Reading through his daughter’s text messages, the father found references to nude photos being sent on the Snapchat app. He confronted his daughter and offered her two options for punishment – be grounded for an extended period or be spanked. She chose the latter and the father took her to the garage of the home, where he used an 18-inch plastic mini hockey stick to spank his daughter two or three times on the buttocks, over top of her pyjama bottoms. A short time later, the girl’s mother returned home and struck
her daughter two or three times on the buttocks with a skipping rope. While administering the spankings, both mother and father told their daughter they were punishing her out of love, not hate. “The child understood that her parents’ beliefs about discipline came from their adherence to the Bible, which they believe advocates the use of the ‘rod’ to spank, rather than the hands, as hands are to be used as instruments of love,” Salmon Arm provincial court judge edmond de Walle said in his ruling. On Feb. 16, 2015, the girl told two friends at school about the
This week The Adams River sockeye salmon returns are among the lowest ever recorded. See A3 for details. Fred Tackett and Paul Barrere are the latest act to join the Roots and Blues lineup. See A22.
spankings and showed them her buttocks. de Walle noted one friend noticed they were red and swollen and covered in purple and green bruises, while the other friend saw red and purple marks. The friends told the school principal, who then called the Ministry of children and Family development and a police investigation began. A trial took place in november and a ruling was released last week. In the ruling, de Walle said the spankings were not reasonable and convicted both parents. They
are due back in court for sentencing on March 4. de Walle noted section 34 of the criminal code of canada allows a parent to use force “by way of correction,” noting the force must be intended for educative or corrective purposes. “It is my finding that the force applied to the child was clearly not intended for educative or corrective purposes,” de Walle wrote. “The father testified that his purpose in spanking the daughter was for punishment. He was unable to articulate any other purSee Spanking on page A2
Index Opinion ....................... A6 View Point .................. A7 Time Out................... A10 Life & Times ............. A14 Sports................A15-A19 Arts & Events ... A20-A22 Vol. 109, No. 5, 40 pages