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A woman believed to be in her 60s is accused of punching a toddler in the head at Kmart because he was having a tantrum.

Police are investigating an allegation of assault. Mum of three, Rebecca claimed to The New Zealand Herald the woman had rammed a trolley into her two-year-old son’s head and she later discovered she had punched him in the head as well.

Rebecca said she had finished her shopping and was in a lengthy line at the checkout when her children, aged six, four and two, began to get restless.

As the wait continued, her youngest son became inconsolable and disintegrated into a full tantrum.

‘He wouldn’t usually behave like this, but I’ve got to admit – it was a really bad tantrum. Probably one of the worst I would have seen,’ she said.

When she finally got to the front of the queue, her son still in meltdown, an older woman appeared to have lost her patience with the young family.

Rebecca claims she turned around to see a trolley being pushed straight towards her son by a woman thought to be in her 60’s.

When the mother-of-three moved to stop the attack, the woman hurled abuse at her, telling Rebecca to ‘take him bloody home’.

After the alleged attack, Rebecca approached Kmart staff to see what could be done, and CCTV footage allegedly shows the woman appear to intentionally steer her trolley towards the young boy.

A store worker said they would review the footage further, file a complaint and see if they could find the woman, and Rebecca left the store.

Later that day, the man called Rebecca with more terrible news.

‘He said to me, “I’m sorry to do this to you… but I feel it’s the right thing to do”,’ she said.

‘We’ve reviewed the video footage in detail and we can see that she has actually punched your son in the head with quite some force, when your back was turned.’

A police constable visited Rebecca’s home to take her statement last night. She’d been told police were trying to track down the registration plate of the woman’s car, to identify her.

Rebecca said the store manager and police had both been incredibly helpful.

Her son was now fine, despite having two large bumps on his forehead.
However, she felt she had let him down.

“My job is to protect my children. To know that someone has punched him in the head and I haven’t reacted… he’ll be like ‘this is normal for people to do this to me’,” she said.

“I don’t want him to be physiologically damaged.”

Police confirmed they had spoken to Kmart and planned to review footage of the incident on the in-store cameras.

A police spokesman confirmed they had been notified of an alleged assault.

“Police will be looking into the matter and will be following up with the complainant.”

This is not on. Such terrible behaviour towards a young child!

Have you ever witnessed anything like this before?

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  • WOW…..she doesnt know how to behave so how can she expect a 2 year old to behave. YOU DO NOT HIT PEOPLE.

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  • Unbelievable! I wonder what this woman is like to others? She should be charged for sure, I hope they find her. Anger management issues.

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  • Who would ever even consider punching a toddler, let alone a random toddler having a tantrum in a local shop? What an evil old lady, hope she doesn’t have grandkids

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  • Unbelievable if it’s bothering you leave don’t assault a child.

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  • So pleased that K-Mart followed up on this and hopefully this vile woman will be found and charged. I know I hate hearing children screaming and having a tantrum, but never would I hit the child. Amazingly I have found a smile from a stranger usually calms them, so that’s what I do.

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  • Well done to Kmart for following up appropriately.

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  • Oh my gosh what the hell? That makes my blood boil. That person needs to be charged.

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  • Oh wow, I just don’t know what to say. How could anyone do that to another person, let alone a child?

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  • OMG. This is disgraceful. What is this world coming to? I am so outraged and shocked and horrified, so imagine how this poor mum must be feeling. I don’t think I can put it into enough words right now how I feel about this.

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  • That’s disgusting how could someone do that no wonder the child got worse may be help out the mother instead of being horrible and nasty hats to Kmart for following up

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  • I’m completely gobsmacked for this poor mum and her poor child!! I hope they catch this person and prosecute them to the full extent of the law!

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  • How shocking, can’t believe someone could do this to a little child. The police should be involved for sure.

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  • The police should have been called immediately!

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  • Oh my I can’t believe this, thankfully never witnessed anything so horrible

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  • That’s disgusting. I don’t care what sort of day the woman was having, she should never have hit anyone let alone someone’s child. Glad the police are onto it. I hope Mum took her son to the hospital or doctor to get him checked. Who knows what damage that woman may have done.

    Reply

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