A three-year-old had to be flown to New Zealand in a life-saving medical evacuation. The child was seriously injured by a metal object thrown at him by his father.

The man is now charged with attempted murder. He remains in custody until his court appearance.

This is not the first incident where a child has been fatally wounded by a parent throwing a rock or a heavy object at him or her. This has become too common. It is so common that many parents feel it is an acceptable form of punishment.

It is not only parents who throw objects at their children, other older relatives and siblings seem to do the same. Hopefully, this has stopped inside classrooms. The older generation can recall those teachers who threw blackboard dusters and chalks at students.

In the biblical story, David slung a stone and hit Goliath on the head, causing the giant to fall. Unlike the David and Goliath story, parents throwing objects at their children is senseless violence. It is an act of idiocracy where lives have been lost.

In February 2023, a pregnant mother who allegedly threw a stone at her 13-year-old daughter causing her death pleaded guilty to the charge of manslaughter.

Susana Lavea Lala of Toamua and Safotu appeared before the Supreme Court this week to answer charges that relate to the untimely death of her daughter.

The 38-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter and one count of armed with a dangerous weapon namely a stone.

According to a report received by the Police, the mother beat her 11-year-old daughter, who ran off when her mother instructed her to do a house chore.

This angered the mother, who allegedly picked up a stone and took aim at her disobedient child, but the projectile instead hit her 13-year-old daughter.

In February 2021, a man who threw a stone at his 14-year-old son’s head causing severe head injuries leading to his son's death was imprisoned for six and half years.

Justice Vui Clarence Nelson handed down the sentence reminding the defendant that his son was not an object or a machine to which he could mindlessly turn to in his anger. He described the case as a domestic violence matter in the family home, something the Government and the courts have been trying to stand against and eliminate for several years.

In August 2021, Afele Tiatia Laumatai, 42, a resident of Gataivai in Savai'i with four children was sentenced by the Supreme Court for five and half years. His crime? Throwing firewood at his 14-year-old nephew that hit him on the back of his head causing severe head injuries that resulted in his death.

Afele pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter for the death of his 14-year-old nephew. The victim was his sister’s son with the Court hearing that he suffered discomfort and dizziness after the assault and later died on 4 August 2021.

In December 2022, Ioelu Mamea of Saasaai Savaii killed his brother-in-law by throwing a stone at him.

He was sentenced to two years and seven months on the manslaughter charge. The background of the case dates back to 19 December 2022 when Mamea and his brother-in-law were preparing food in the kitchen.

An argument developed and this resulted in the throwing of a stone.

In one such sentencing Supreme Court Judge Justice Leiataualesa Daryl Clarke described such an act as the wrong approach.

The Justice is correct. That was the wrong response to a trivial case of ill-discipline. It should have been resolved without resorting to violence.

Sadly, here in Samoa, it is normal for Samoan parents to beat their children as a form of child discipline.

Many of us had disciplinarian parents. They believed that spanking in the early formative years of a child, shaped him or her to become good citizens in the future.

However, global research on parents’ physical discipline in recent years has revealed spanking and other forms of corporal punishment directed at children are ineffective and potentially dangerous to a child's development, according to the American Psychological Association (APA).

There are lessons in these tragic stories for parents and guardians as well as adults who are blessed with the care and custody of children.

Samoa is currently in the throes of an epidemic of violence affecting families, with women and children the most vulnerable, who more often than not fall prey to perpetrators who at most times are family members.

Promoting and providing non-violent forms of child discipline through respectful parenting and educating can go a long way in breaking cycles of violence at home, while also nurturing children and moulding them to become good citizens.

Respectful parenting and education should be based on cooperation, respect and empathy while harnessing the abilities of the child to better themselves.