[A] MAN who “gratuitously” assaulted a young child has been locked up for three years.
Carlisle Crown Court heard 32-year-old Philip Burns punched, kicked and pushed the youngster as part of illegal physical contact which was also said to have included “strangulation”.
Burns’ violence, the court heard, occurred on a number of different occasions and left the victim with bruises.
There was no evidence the child had received any medical treatment. However, the assaults were said to have been “deeply traumatising” for the youngster.
Burns, of High Street, Annan, denied physically assaulting the pre-teen victim, causing actual bodily harm. However, he was found unanimously guilty of the offending by a jury following a trial.
He was given the three-year jail term at the crown court this morning (MON).
Sentencing Burns, Judge Peter Hughes QC told him he had “routinely and gratuitously” physically assaulted the victim.
“You used violence for violence sake, and in that sense it was sadistic,” said Judge Hughes.
