A man who smacked a three-year-old girl three times on the back and bottom has been jailed for two months.
David Jones, 34, claimed the girl, who lives with her mother in Tilbury, was being naughty, Basildon Crown Court heard.
Jones, a lodger at the Crooked Billet pub, Stanford-le-Hope, was said to have made the girl scream.
A doctor who saw her four days later said she still had bruises.
Jones, who has previous convictions, admitted actual bodily harm.
His barrister, Georgina Reid, said it was a one-off incident and he had not meant to hurt the child.
Published Monday, December 16, 2002
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