Cruelty to a Child
Date produced: 13 March 2013
Title: Offences Against the Person
Offence: Cruelty to a child
Legislation: Children and Young Persons Act 1933 section 1(1)
Mode of Trial: Either way
Statutory Limitations & Maximum Penalty: 10 years imprisonment
Sentencing Range: Serious specified violent offence
Relevant Sentencing Guidelines (If Any)
The SGC definitive guideline 'Overarching Principles: Assaults on Children and Cruelty to a child' applies to offenders sentenced on or after 3 March 2008.
Seriousness, culpability and harm
- Seriousness - to assess seriousness, the precise nature of the offence must be established before considering factors such as the defendant's intent, the length of time over which the cruelty took place, and the degree of physical and psychological harm suffered by the victim.
- Culpability - the guideline establishes that culpability should be the initial factor in determining seriousness.
- Harm - nature and degree of harm caused, intended or reasonably foreseeable will impact on seriousness.
Aggravating and mitigating factors
The main aggravating factors are:
- victim is particularly vulnerable
- abuse of power
- abuse of position of trust
- an especially serious physical or psychological effect on the victim, even if unintended
- presence of others e.g. relatives, especially other children
- additional degradation of the victim
- targeting one particular child from the family
- sadistic behaviour
- threats to prevent the victim from reporting the offence
- deliberate concealment of the victim from the authorities
- failure to seek medical help
The most common mitigating factor is:
- seeking medical help or bringing the situation to the notice of the authorities.
Areas of personal mitigation are likely to be:
- mental illness/depression
- inability to cope with the pressures of parenthood
- lack of support
- sleep deprivation
- offender dominated by an abusive or stronger partner
- extreme behavioural difficulties in the child, often coupled with a lack of support
- inability to secure assistance or support services in spite of every effort having been made by the offender
SGC guidelines
The guidelines set out below apply to a first time adult offender who has been convicted after a trial, and on the basis that he/she has not been assessed as dangerous.
Nature of failure & harm:
(i) Serious cruelty over a period of time.
(ii) Serious long-term neglect.
(iii) Failure to protect a child from either of the above.
Starting point: 6 years custody
Sentencing range: 5 - 9 years custody
Nature of failure & harm:
(i) Series of assaults (the more serious the individual assaults and the longer the period over which they are perpetrated, the more serious the offence).
(ii) Protracted neglect or ill-treatment (the longer the period of ill-treatment or neglect and the longer the period over which it takes place, the more serious the offence).
(iii) Failure to protect a child from either of the above.
Starting point: 3 years custody
Sentencing range: 2 - 5 years custody
Nature of failure & harm:
(i) Assault(s) resulting in injuries consistent with ABH.
(ii) More than one incident of neglect or ill-treatment (but not amounting to long-term behaviour).
(iii) Single incident of long-term abandonment OR regular incidents of short-term abandonment (the longer the period of long-term abandonment or the greater the number of incidents of short-term abandonment) the more serious the offence).
(iv) Failure to protect a child from any of the above.
Starting point: 36 weeks custody
Sentencing range: 26 weeks - 2 years custody
Nature of failure & harm:
(i) Short term neglect or ill-treatment.
(ii) Single incident of short-term abandonment.
(iii) Failure to protect a child from any of the above.
Starting point: 12 weeks custody
Sentencing range: Community Order (LOW) - 26 weeks custody
Where sentencing options remain open, the court should take into account the impact that a custodial sentence for the offender might have on the victim.
Chastisement causing injury neither intended nor foreseen, and not even reasonably foreseeable - a discharge might be appropriate.
Cases involving sentence and/or appeal hearing after issue of the SGC definitive guideline
R v S [2009] 1 Cr.App.R.(S.) 40
Appellant cohabited with the mother of girl aged five. Harsh discipline, sent to her room for long periods, put masking tape over her mouth, no other violence. Bewildered man with inadequate parenting skills and mitigating features. Guilty pleas. Sentence reduced to a community order with supervision and a good parenting course.
R v Z [2009] 2 Cr.App.R.(S.) 32
Appellant, a devout Shia Muslim, convicted on two counts of cruelty to his sons aged under 16. He allowed them to use an instrument to flagellate themselves, despite disapproval of the mosque's elders. Sentence of 26 weeks' imprisonment suspended for 12 months upheld.
R v Sutherland [2011] 1 Cr.App.R.(S.) 90
Appellant dialled 999, and her son aged 13 months was dead on arrival at hospital. Cause of death could not be identified. No evidence of assault or life-threatening infection. Numerous injuries, body covered in faeces, tidemark of dried urine on the pushchair. Guilty plea. Sentence of 27 months' imprisonment upheld.
R v Ryan [2012] 1 Cr.App.R.(S.) 40
Appellant aged 39 in charge of her five month old son. She bought and then drank three bottles of wine. Neighbour heard the child crying but got no answer. Later, the appellant realised that she could not find her son and roused her neighbours to look for him. He was found between the bed and the wall, lying face down on some plastic bags and covered in his own excrement. The child was taken to hospital, where he died. Appellant spent two months as an in-patient due to her mental health. Previous good character, guilty plea. The Court of Appeal held that the definitive guideline did not really cover the facts of the case. Sentence reduced to 16 months imprisonment.
R v Haskey [2012] 1 Cr.App.R.(S.) 106
Daughter aged nearly two suffered injuries inflicted in the appellant's absence: burn to the sole of a foot and three toes caused by being held against a hot kettle, and bruises to different parts of her head and body. Guilty plea on the basis that she entered into a relationship with her boyfriend (who was not the child's father), who abused her. When she returned home, she noticed the burn and contacted the emergency services, but had not previously sought medical attention for the bruises. Had she done so, the burn to the foot would not have occurred. Court of Appeal regarded injuries amounted to grievous bodily harm, held second category applied towards the lower end and accepted significant mitigation. Sentence reduced to 18 months imprisonment.
R v P [2012] 2 Cr.App.R.(S.) 13
Female appellant of good character and male co-defendant (parents of a daughter aged 11 months) were convicted of conspiracy to commit cruelty to a person under 16 and holding another person in slavery. Arrangements were made for the sale of the baby, a newspaper became aware, meetings were covertly filmed and recorded and agreement was reached to exchange the baby for £35,000. The police intervened. Co-defendant regarded as the main offender who had exercised influence falling short of duress over the appellant. No sentencing guideline cases of assistance. Sentence reduced to 4 years imprisonment.
Relevant Sentencing Case Law
Recent Decisions reported in CSP at B2-7C.
Consider Also:
- Disqualification from working with children
Return to the Sentencing Manual index
