Dad fined for forcing son to shovel snow with no shoes

Local newspaper Västerbottens-Kuriren reported on Thursday that the man was found guilty of harassment and told by Umeå District Court to pay 5,500 kronor to his own child on top of the fines.

 

The man denied wrongdoing and said that the boy, whose exact age was not given but who is one of the lower grades in school, had been misbehaving one day in March 2018 and was sent out to shovel snow as punishment. 

 

The father said that the young boy refused to put on a coat or shoes. He made his son shovel snow anyway, although according to the report he went outside with the boy and they were only outdoors for around two minutes. 

 

The man admitted in court that he might not have displayed the best judgement but said he forced the boy outside so he “would not go in and kick and hit his mother again.”

 

A neighbour who witnessed the incident said that the boy was out in the snow wearing only a t-shirt and screamed that his feet hurt. The neighbour reported the father’s behaviour to the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen).

 

The father was found guilty on the harassment charge and was sentenced to 60 daily fines of 50 kronor each. In addition to the March 2018 incident, he had reportedly locked the boy outside on “several other occasions”, according to the Västerbottens-Kuriren report.