An army medic who hit a child so hard he left a handprint which lasted a week has escaped punishment after a sheriff said the child had been “difficult.”
Leuchars-based Staff Sergeant Michael Birkett, 42, was found guilty of attacking the boy when he was 12 years old by striking him on the leg to his injury.
He was admonished by Sheriff Mark O’Hanlon, who said: “This was a one-off. I can accept this was a situation where it was a difficult child – he said that himself. It was one strike to the leg.”
Birkett was cleared of attacking a second child and subjecting a former partner to a two year campaign of domestic bullying after the Regimental Chaplain gave evidence in his defence.
Sheriff O’Hanlon said he had doubts about the ex-partner’s “credibility.”
Allegations of abuse
Dundee Sheriff Court was told that Birkett had placed a skeleton in his ex-partner’s bed and had repeatedly called her derogatory names including ‘The Dragon’.
The woman told the court he had urinated on her while she was in the bath and had carried out a sex act in her presence on a virtually daily basis.
She said that on one occasion, Birkett drank a glass of his own urine before pinning her to the floor and trying to make her kiss him. She said he gave the impression that he thought it was funny.
The court was told that Birkett cut her allowance from £750 a month to £350 a month after he was posted to Scotland, but continued to lavish hundreds of pounds on designer clothing for himself.
Birkett, Tuttle Close, Leuchars, was alleged to have engaged in a course of domestic coercion against the woman between 1 August 2019 and 23 September 2021.
He was alleged to have deprived her of money, isolated her from friends and family, prevented her buying food, put a skeleton in her bed and hidden glass in a chocolate bar.
Birkett told the court that the relationship had begun to break down and the couple had called upon the military chaplain to offer them support and guidance.
Reverend Major Philip Francis told the trial: “In November 2019 he asked me to make a home visit. I spoke to them together and made a number of visits.
“I think the relationship came to an end towards the end of 2020. There was an incident where they had been at McDonalds and things had disintegrated.”
Doubts over complainer’s ‘credibility’
Birkett, of the 225 Medical Regiment, denied that the bizarre catalogue of incidents alleged by his former lover had taken place at all.
Sheriff O’Hanlon found Birkett not guilty of the domestic abuse charge after ruling that he had “doubts regarding the credibility” of the complainer.
He also found him not guilty of attacking a second child – aged 15 – during October 2019 by seizing him and backing him into a corner.
But the sheriff found Birkett guilty of assaulting and injuring the younger boy between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2021 by striking him on the leg.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court he understood his behaviour could be challenging but said Birkett was “horrible” to him.
The court was told Birkett smacked him on the leg, leaving a visible handprint, and the mark was still present around a week later.
Solicitor John Boyle, defending, said the consequences of a conviction for child assault would be “significant” for the military medic.
Sheriff O’Hanlon said “I’m satisfied there was an assault” but he admonished Birkett.
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