Man sued by ex-wife over getting 16yo daughter a tattoo
Tattooed truckie Bradley Victory told his 16-year-old daughter he didn’t want to be a “hypocrite” when she asked him for a tattoo. Now his ex-wife is suing him.
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A truckie has been taken to court by his ex-wife after he allegedly let their teen daughter get a tattoo of a dreamcatcher without her mother’s consent.
Bradley Victory, 45, of Tahmoor, appeared in Picton Local Court yesterday and pleaded not guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm over the incident.
Court documents allege Mr Victory caused the permanent tattoo of the dreamcatcher — a symbol of good luck which originated in native American cultures — to be placed on the left calf of Casey Victory when she was 16 at Picton Tattoos last New Year’s Eve.
Casey, who was at court to support her father and who had given her consent to being identified, said it had been her decision to get the work done.
“It’s horrible … Dad’s done nothing wrong and it was my choice to get it done as well,” she told The Daily Telegraph.
“Dad ummed and aahed about it … Dad’s like, ‘I’m not going to be hypocritical’ — he’s got tattoos.
“(He’s) like ‘well I can’t really say no’. It’s not a horrible tattoo, it’s something little, something that has a meaning behind it. (I got it) to follow my dreams, to dream big.”
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The documents state Mr Victory was being privately prosecuted by ex-wife Nadene Rees, of Hill Top, who he shares three children with and who was represented in court by barrister Leigh Finch.
In a letter tendered to the court, Mr Victory’s lawyer Carolyn Shiels said the facts alleged he permitted Casey, now 17, to get the tattoo and had signed a consent form.
“We confirm that the facts appear to allege that our client permitted the eldest child Casey to have a tattoo on her leg and signed the consent form in that regard,” the lawyer said.
The documents state there is equal shared parental responsibility for Casey between Mr Victory, Ms Rees and Mr Victory’s parents.
“Casey has had no contact, whether personally or by phone, with the mother in this matter for three years,” Ms Shiels said in the letter.
“We confirm that for a large proportion of Casey’s life she has resided with the paternal grandparents.”
Outside court, Mr Victory said he had received a summons notice about three weeks ago.
“She was 16, she got a tattoo and her mother doesn’t want her to have the tattoo,” he said.
“Police rang me up and questioned me … (but my ex-wife is) taking me to court by herself.”
Under NSW law, it is illegal to tattoo anyone under the age of 18 without written permission from a parent or guardian.
Barrister Stephen Lawrence said he was not aware of a similar case in NSW.
“A novel aspect of it is the fact that a person charged is not the person, as I understand it, alleged to have actually performed that tattoo,” he said.
Mr Lawrence said private prosecutions were often terminated after they went to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The matter will return to court in September.