A former Lake Macquarie police officer has admitted to picking up his young daughter from the family's lounge and throwing her to the ground.
The man, a serving officer at the time of the act of violence, was granted bail under the Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act after he pleaded guilty to common assault in Toronto Local Court this week.
He has been released into the care of a doctor, according to court documents.
A statement of agreed facts said the man's longtime partner, and mother of his two children, noticed a change in him in May 2022, when he became "increasingly aggressive", began to break his children's toys, "shoulder barged" and pushed his partner, and laughed at his children when they became upset.
On one occasion, according to the facts, the man stomped on a bee after his eldest child - then aged 7 - had asked him not to. He laughed at her when the creature's death made her cry.
"There have been times when the girls have been sitting on a small plastic chair and the accused has walked past and kicked the back of the chair, causing them to fall down - because they were in the way," the statement of facts noted.
One day in the second half of 2022, his partner and the children were playing and watching movies together in the family loungeroom when the man entered "frustrated for no apparent reason", saw his youngest daughter - then aged 4 - lying on the lounge and threw her to the ground.
"Why would you do that ... you just hurt her," his partner said, to which the man replied: "I don't know".
He became enraged when questioned further about the assault and challenged the older girl about why she was upset.
On several occasions, the man told his partner he was scared he would harm her and the children because he could not control his anger, and said he "can't wait for us all not to be here".
His partner reported the incidents to police after the man was admitted to hospital and she began to fear what would happen when he was discharged.
The man will face court again next May.
- Support is available. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline 1300 789 978; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.
