Mackay father pleads guilty to bashing his six-year-old son over ‘gay act’

A father-of-three repeatedly hit his young son after walking in on him sitting on another boy’s lap yelling ‘if they were adults I would have killed them’.

The father’s barrister Scott Mclennan said that the landscaper walking in on his sons engaging in a ‘sexual act’ had ‘triggered something in him, he wasn’t able to cope with it’.

A man had a violent outburst towards his six-year-old son over a suspected sexual act before he choked the boy’s mother until she passed out.

The Mackay father-of-three — who will be out of jail just before Christmas — bashed his young son after walking in on him sitting on another boy’s lap in what he thought was a “sexual engagement”.

The 28-year-old landscaper became enraged, striking his eldest son repeatedly and throwing him to the ground.

The horrific act on August 16 2020 caused a number of bruises to the child’s leg, triggering a spate of domestic violence which broadened to target the mother of his children.

Mackay District Court heard the landscaper had yelled at his sons saying “being gay is wrong”, and “if they were adults I would have killed them”.

On hearing the commotion, the boys’ mother entered the room darting to secure their daughter who was an infant at the time.

The father then pushed the mother against a wall, grabbing at her neck and face, telling her “you better f**k me after this”.

The court heard the mother had attempted to defend the children, saying she had done similar things when she was their age.

The comment enraged the father who then accused her of “touching the boys” and called her a pedophile and slapped her in the face three times.

The court heard the woman fell to her knees and the man grabbed her by the throat and squeezed until she lost consciousness.

Crown prosecutor Samantha O’Rourke told the court the man yelled “they were all trying to send him to jail”.

The man apologised when the woman regained consciousness and asked her to “deal with the baby” before he again slapped her while she held the infant.

In the following days, the father choked and slapped the victim again.

The father’s actions were discovered on a welfare check during which he was arrested and remanded in custody.

The court heard that during his two days in custody, the man contacted the woman and attempted to guilt her into dropping charges against him, saying “he would miss out on the children’s lives”.

Police issued a protection order and domestic violence order which the man continued to breach, contacting the mother of his children throughout September and October.

The man was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, choking, attempting to pervert justice, and five counts each of common assault, contravening a domestic violence order and police protection orders.

The man pleaded guilty to all offences at Mackay District Court on Monday.

Defence barrister Scott Mclennan said the landscaper walking in on his sons engaging in what he believed to be a sexual act had “triggered something in him, he wasn’t able to cope with it”.

Mr Mclennan argued his client had shown remorse when he spoke to police on the day he had hit his son.

“Like it’s hard to explain it, I caught my boy sitting on another boy’s lap, this is the saddest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” the father had told police.

“I’m a piece of sh*t, I shouldn’t have put my hands on my kid, but a matter of fact I have.”

Judge Tony Moynihan sentenced the man to three years in jail with a parole release date on December 18, 2021. The father had already spent 371 days in pre-sentence custody.

A conviction was recorded.

Originally published as Mackay father pleads guilty to bashing his six-year-old son over ‘gay act’