A SIX-year-old boy has been granted court protection from his playmate’s mother after a family feud turned ugly.
In what is believed to be a Victorian first, the prep student’s family was granted an intervention order against the school mum last month, after they convinced a magistrate she was a threat to his safety.
The woman, 26, now risks two years’ imprisonment, or a fine of almost $30,000, if she goes within 5m of the boy, or his father or seven-year-old brother.
She has been accused of verbally abusing the boy and his family, and encouraging her own six-year-old son to physically and emotionally harass his former friend.
The boys used to enjoy sleep-overs at each others’ homes.
But a spat between their parents quickly filtered down to the schoolyard, according to the alleged victim’s grandmother.
She claimed her grandson had been verbally abused several times by the woman and her partner, and the woman’s son had been violent in the school ground.
The woman told the Herald Sun she was the victim of a smear campaign.
She was also pursuing assault charges against a member of the boy’s family.
“They are false allegations, and it’s absolutely disgusting that they are doing this to me,” she said. “This has been absolutely horrible for me and my family.”
She had been forced to send her son to another school, and move house, to comply with the order.
The order, granted in a magistrates’ court in central western Victoria, prohibits the woman stalking the three “protected persons” named on the order.
It also bans her from following the boy or family members, going within 50m of their home or school, contacting them “by any means”, or publishing any material about them online.
Early childhood expert Marie Hammer, from Monash University, said adults sometimes underestimated the impact of family disputes on children.
“It’s very distressing for children to witness aggravation,” she said.
“Verbal aggression is right up there with physical aggression, quite frankly.”
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