Named: Toowoomba man fined for assaulting autistic boy at Kearneys Spring park

A court heard a Toowoomba man was attempting to “discipline” someone else’s child at a park when he assaulted the teen. Here’s why he said he confronted the child.

Creedon Drive Park at Kearneys Spring, Toowoomba. Picture: Google Maps

A Toowoomba court heard a man grabbed a stranger’s child by the face at a Kearneys Spring park because he was trying to “discipline’ the unruly 15-year-old boy who was abusing his mother.

At Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Monday, March 11, Joshua Daniel Woodroofe pleaded guilty to assaulting the child in January at the park on Creedon Drive.

Police prosecutor Nick Pratt said the teenager and his mother were at the park when the boy began having a violent and angry outburst.

“The (boy) was abusing his mother and using coarse language,” he said.

At the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Monday, March 11, Joshua Daniel Woodroofe pleaded guilty to assaulting the child in January at Creedon Drive.

He said Woodroofe grabbed the boy by the face, and turned his head to face him, which caused the child to stumble back and fall against a car.

“(He) stated the victim child was being rude to him and looked away, so he used his hand to turn the (boy’s) face towards him to prevent the victim child from turning away,” he said.

When police later questioned Woodroofe, he admitted to touching the boy’s face.

“It’s a vulnerable child, it’s someone else’s child, he’s engaged in conduct which is traversed one would think as a universally accepted social norm which is to not go and discipline other people’s children at a park,” he said.

Solicitor Michael Corbin said the only reason Woodroofe approached the boy, who was quite “built” for his age, was due to the boy’s “abusive nature towards his mother”.

“He didn’t know that it was the child’s mother,” he said.

“He and a number of other members of the community saw this and he went over there and said, in essence, ‘look you can’t talk like this. What the hell is going on?’”.

Mr Corbin said the mother then told Woodroofe about her son’s behavioural issues while the kid continued to act out and when he then grabbed the boy’s face he said, “you got to pay attention.

Creedon Drive Park at Kearneys Spring, Toowoomba. Picture: Google Maps

“Yes, if he had stopped long enough to take full stock of the circumstances, it may well be that he would have said, ‘look okay fine, he’s your kid,’” he said.

“But he believed, in the first instance, he was looking out for another member of the community.

“He perhaps takes it outside the appropriate circumstances, but any reasonable person… would have, in the first instance, gone over there and said what’s going on?’”

He noted Woodroofe apologised to the mother at the park.

Magistrate Mark Howden said a misunderstanding led to the assault as he had witnessed a woman being abused, and inserted himself into the situation without knowing the full story.

“You’ve gone over there in an effort to stop what was going on,” he said.

“The problem is that you’ve taken the next step by touching the child, grabbing his face.

“I do think there are mitigating circumstances here that perhaps take it outside of the usual type of offending behavior.

“I think given your concern for the child’s actions towards the child’s mother and the large size of the child, it can perhaps explain but not excuse you.”

Woodroofe was fined $500 and no conviction was recorded.

Originally published as Named: Toowoomba man fined for assaulting autistic boy at Kearneys Spring park