Judge Orders Mother 200 Metre Exclusion Order After Slapping

A court that gave a mother a two-month prison sentence for slapping her son and then reduced it to community service have also bizarrely ordered her to not get within 200m of him for 6 months.

The woman, whose name has not been released, was charged with domestic violence after she hit the boy twice in a row over his personal hygiene.

Police received a complaint about the slapping, and after confirming from the child that his mother had hit him she was prosecuted.

A court in the city of Pontevedra, in the north-western Spanish region of Galicia, found her guilty and sentenced her to serve two months in prison.

However, magistrates agreed to commute the sentence to two months’ community service instead because she did not have a criminal record.

The court also ordered the woman to stay at least 200 metres away from the boy for the next six months. It is not reported how that will work in practice as she is his mother.

Magistrates heard the woman slapped the boy twice, causing his face to redden, after he refused to take a shower.

He was seen by medics after the mother was reported but was not hurt badly enough to require further treatment.

The woman’s lawyer had argued in court that she was entitled to discipline her son as she saw fit.

But magistrates ruled parents’ right to correct children could “never justify the use of violence” and they must not violate the “physical and moral integrity of children”.