Girl assaulted by parents after posting photos online

A 15-year-old girl was assaulted by both of her parents after she posted promiscuous pictures of herself on Facebook.

Her father was before Cork District Court yesterday on a charge of assaulting her.

Her mother was also in court facing sentencing on a charge of assault causing harm to her.

Inspector Ronan Kennelly told the district court that the teenager’s face bore the mark of the sole of her mother’s shoe.

Inspector Kennelly told Judge Olan Kelleher it all emanated from photographs which the teenager posted of herself on social media.

Her parents disapproved, they tried to exercise parental control, and it all went out of control.

The teenager went to gardaí and reported her mother and father for assaulting her.

The incident with her father occurred when he arrived to see her standing at an upstairs window of the family home using her phone despite the fact that her parents had told her she was not to use it.

She complained to gardaí that when he tried to get the phone from her, he pulled her hair and she said he kicked her on the ground — a claim which he denied.

The teenager then left the house and later in the evening her mother found her and brought her home and there was another altercation.

She claimed her mother slapped her across the face, that she threatened to bite her mother, and that her mother kicked her in order to stop her.

The teenager is no longer living with her family.

Solicitor, Leo Murphy, said her parents had become concerned about substance abuse, promiscuity, and self-harm by their 15-year-old daughter.

“She was posting inappropriate pictures of herself on Facebook,” Mr Murphy said.

The solicitor said it would be an appropriate case for a report from the probation service.

Judge Kelleher agreed and he said the teenager would also be entitled to give a victim impact statement.

The parties are not identified in this report for legal reasons.