A father has appeared in court after confronting his daughter’s bully and forcing the boy to clean up their vandalised front door.
David Harding, 41, has never previously been in any trouble with the law but reached the “end of his tether” with the 13-year-old, who the court was told had “terrorised” the family.
Harding said his daughter has been the target of a year-long campaign of bullying, during which time her eye socket had been fractured and jaw broken.
The final straw came when the boy and his friends threw a can of baked beans at the family’s door and Harding says he simply “snapped”.
The mechanic and football coach spotted the child in a nearby shop and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. Harding then marched the boy to his car and drove him back to his flat before ordering him to clean up the mess.
But the “misguided” attempt to teach the child a lesson backfired, as the bullying only got worse and Harding found himself getting arrested and taken to court.
Fiscal depute Andrew McMann told Aberdeen Sheriff Court: “The background is that the complainer, prior to the offending, had attended at the accused’s home address and thrown a tin of beans all over the door along with his friends.
Boy was ‘frightened and distressed’
“Information from the police is that the complainer and his friends were essentially terrorising the accused and his younger daughter and family as a whole.”
Shortly after the vandalism of his door, Harding spotted the boy in a shop and told him: “Get outside or I’ll snap your legs.”
The child then met Harding outside the shop.
Mr McMann said: “The accused seized the complainer by the scruff of the neck and walked him a short distance to his car and placed him within the car.
“The Crown’s position on detaining him against his will is that it was for that brief three to five seconds and no further than that.”
Harding drove the boy to his flat on Gardner Crescent and “instructed him to clean the front door and recorded him while he was doing so”.
Mr McMann said the boy was left “frightened and distressed”.
He added: “I think, in fairness, it’s potentially appropriate to state that, while no justification for the accused actions, the complainer has many, many difficulties in his background and behavioural difficulties and is now subject to foster care as a result of his parents being unable to control him.”
‘A fairly exceptional case’
Harding pled guilty to a charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner over the incident, which happened on August 23 last year.
Defence agent Liam Mcallister said: “It’s a fairly exceptional case and I’m inviting your lordship to consider an exceptional disposal.”
He explained his client had never troubled the courts before, had been in full-time employment as a mechanic since he was 16, was married and provided for his family.
The lawyer said: “In short, my client’s daughter was being quite significantly bullied by, amongst a group, the young man in question.
“Unfortunately, the school was unable to handle and deal with that and matters escalated.
“The day before this, stones had been thrown at the family home by the complainer and his associates.
‘It’s been hell for the family’
“In short, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
Mr Mcallister went on: “He made what was possibly the biggest error of his adult life and confronted the boy and made him clean up the mess he’d created.
“In short, he’s teaching him a lesson. It’s a misguided attempt I think.”
Mr Mcallister said Harding was ordinarily a “mild-mannered, hard-working, devoted parent” but had “reached the end of his tether.”
He said: “The irony and sad tragedy is, as a result, it’s made the situation worse for his daughter.
“It’s been hell for the family and Mr Harding bears the full responsibility because he’s brought further difficulty on his family by his lapse of judgement.”
He handed the sheriff positive references from Harding’s employers and a football team he assists in coaching.
‘You took the law into your own hands’
The court heard Harding had initially tried to assist the boy and his mother to try and support them in addressing his behaviour.
Mr Mcallister said the boy’s father had even offered to come to court to support his client and apologise for his son’s behaviour.
He asked the court to consider an absolute discharge, meaning his client would not face any punishment and no conviction would be added to his record.
Sheriff Rory Bannerman described the case as “unfortunate”.
He told Harding, of Gardner Crescent: “You took the law into your own hands in a way that was distressing to the child, albeit there was a background of very bad behaviour by this child towards your family.”
He said Harding’s actions were more than just a momentary lapse and that “some thought had clearly gone into it”.
The sheriff concluded an absolute discharge was not appropriate, and instead admonished Harding, meaning the conviction does go on his record, but he does not face any further punishment.
‘Parents don’t take responsibility for their kids’ actions’
Speaking outside court following the hearing, a tearful Harding said: “My daughter had been bullied for a year and a half.
“I just felt defeated. Something snapped.
“I did wrong. I shouldn’t have taken him in the car. But I know him.”
Harding said he was “relieved” the case was now “done and dusted”, but said the experience of appearing in court before a sheriff had been difficult.
He said “It was terrifying, but it’s more what it brings to my daughter. I put more on her by doing that. She’s had a fractured eye socket and broken jaw, she’s been battered for a year now, solid.
“I made it worse. She was getting all sorts of abuse.
“I’m just frustrated it’s gone this far. There was no need for it to come this far.
“Parents don’t take responsibility for their kids’ actions.”
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