Man peppered boy's face 'to teach lesson'

By EMILY WATT - The Dominion Post | Wednesday, 8 August 2007
A man who sprinkled pepper in a six-year-old boy's eyes has been charged with assault with a weapon.

But he says he was teaching the boy a lesson, after the boy tried to put pepper in a dog's eyes.

Craig Leslie Ozich, 31, appeared in Lower Hutt District Court yesterday charged with assaulting a six-year-old using pepper from a pepper shaker as a weapon.

His lawyer, Bryan Yeoman, told the court the charges were "somewhat unusual".

"Is a weapon classified as a condiment? I think the police might struggle to get him on that."

Judge Jan Kelly remanded Ozich on bail without plea till August 21, on condition that he not contact the boy or his mother, and stay away from their street.

Outside court, Ozich, who was living with the boy's mother, said he thought the charges were unjustified.

The boy was often cruel to animals and had been sprinkling pepper on a dog.

"I pushed pepper on his face, it went in his eyes. It wasn't like I was trying to physically hurt him, I was trying to show him what it's like."

Ozich admitted he probably should not have done it, but said he had washed the boy's eyes after and he was fine 20 minutes later.

The boy's mother said she did not want Ozich charged, but had called police because she wanted him removed from the house.

She said she thought the recent debate about child abuse, in the wake of Rotorua toddler Nia Glassie's death, had influenced the police's decision to press charges.

Lower Hutt police child abuse team supervisor Detective Sergeant Tusha Penny said police action was never swayed by media headlines.

"The reality is that when violence is used against children, it's child abuse.