A toddler was slapped so hard that his head “wobbled,” Perth Sheriff Court was told.
And a woman was so “shocked” after witnessing the incident - and hearing the child crying loudly - that she later reported it.
Police inquiries led to 56-year-old Richard McGilligan, of Dunsinane Drive, Perth, being given a community payback order after he admitted the assault.
He will have to complete 120 hours of unpaid work within the next six months after he slapped the child on the head in Perth’s Crieff Road, near Unity Terrace, on November 1, 2019.
Depute fiscal Mairi Graham said the accused was seen striking the child on the back of the head at about 2.15pm.
Me Graham added: “She was shocked by the accused’s actions and recalls seeing the child wobble.”
She wound her car window down and heard the youngster “crying loudly.”
The accused later “freely admitted his actions were wrong and regretted it.”
McGilligan, who represented himself in court, said it had been “a stressful day.”
Imposing the unpaid work, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told him: “I shouldn’t need to tell you - in this day and age - that to behave in that way is totally unacceptable.
“No matter what the circumstances were, there is absolutely no justification for that.”
