When correcting a child is not considered an injury: The controversial case of a man who assaulted his 8-year-old stepdaughter reaches a higher court

Social networks in Cali, Colombia are exploding with the comments users leave when they express their divided opinion about a recent court decision in that city.

Last week in Cali, it was determined that “correcting a child is not considered an injury,” Semana published.

This consideration arose from the analysis of the appeal of a stepfather convicted of domestic violence.

Child abused in Ambato remains in the care of his maternal family; the minor’s mother was not allowed to approach him

Controversial court ruling in Cali

The decision was made in the Superior Court of Cali and specifies that “an impulsiveness, annoyance or corrective action cannot be considered lesividad (injury) in family violence.”

The convicted man’s case is related to the physical and verbal assault against his 8-year-old stepdaughter.

The case that opened the debate

The Colombian press reported that the facts broadcast in the Superior Court of Cali are dated December 12, 2020.

On that date, in the La Isla district, located in the north of the city, the alleged attack of the stepfather on the minor took place.

“After what happened, a fight broke out between the man and another subject who noticed the situation and intervened. Due to this fact, the National Police was alerted and later they reached the 5A North Race with 38 AN Street and arrested the stepfather,” they explained.

Why did he attack the stepdaughter?

The man told uniformed officers that when he left with the minor to bring lunch to his partner, he noticed something was missing.

He looked closely and saw that the juice was left in the house. Back at the house, the girl told him that the keys were left in the house. This upset the man who, seeing that he couldn’t get in, “cussed her and hit her arm.”

According to Entérate Cali, the Attorney General “charged the stepfather with serious domestic violence and demanded a prison sentence of 6 to 14 years.

A judge sentenced a prison sentence of 72 months (6 years in a detention center) which they appealed.

The Supreme Court decides

The Supreme Court of Cali, in light of what happened, determined “that impulsiveness, annoyance or corrective action cannot be considered an injury in domestic violence.”

When is that action “punishable”? Media from the neighboring country emphasize that when “correction is carried out in an abusive, violent or humiliating way, it can be seen as a form of aggression and can have a negative impact on the child’s emotional and psychological well-being. In addition to becoming a domestic violence.” aggravated”.

They comment on social networks

Hernan Sanchez: “They punished me when I was little and today I’m thankful for that as I’m a better person and where they let me do whatever I wanted when I was little, would I be a criminal or would I be dead already.”

Laura Restrepo: “I don’t know if you are a good person and an excellent professional because your parents beat you. That’s why you don’t like it. An unconscious mind thinks it should be thankful for the blows because it is a consequence of receiving them.

Ninny Prada: “It is one thing to correct a child, but another to mistreat a child; They didn’t correct me with blows and I’m not a criminal and I’m not a danger to society.”

Adriana Pereira: “It’s one thing to correct and another to mistreat, there are people who are very aggressive and don’t control their impulses, the blows serve to make them afraid of you, but it doesn’t teach them why they shouldn’t act on that way, there are many people who have committed crimes and one of his great traumas was the violence inflicted on him as a child, and they never forget that and it generates that resentment as an adult”.