A man who hit a nine-year-old boy with a telephone and then decapitated a teddy bear during a furious row has avoided prison.
The 46-year-old Southend man lost his temper when he had an argument with his live-in partner.
When his partner told her nine-year-old son to call the police, the man grabbed the phone and hit the boy in the face with it, cutting his lip.
The man then took a teddy bear and cut off its head with a jig saw, then destroyed more property before leaving the house.
Barry Gilbert, defending at Basildon Crown Court, said he "really seriously and sincerely regrets what he did to the young boy".
The defendant had admitted a charge of actual bodily harm on the boy and another of criminal damage.
The man was sentenced to a 24-month community rehabilitation order.
Published Friday August 20, 2004
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