Reign of terror - Mount dad jailed

A Mount Maunganui man who a judge described as having "created a reign of terror in his home" has been jailed for three years and three months after repeatedly physically abusing his five children and assaulting his wife.
Truck driver Bryce Vickers, 37, repeatedly kicked, slapped and smacked his children between 2002 and 2009, abuse which began when some of the victims were just newborns or toddlers.
On one occasion, Vickers left his step-daughter without medical treatment after he kicked her in the bottom about 10 times with steel-capped boots.
He also subjected the children to repeated hard smacks with a wooden spoon, ear pulling and twisting, and shaved his step-daughter's hair off.
His step-son, now aged 8, has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after he was regularly slapped, punched and kicked, and hit with a wooden spoon. The boy also had his ears pinched, a broomhead thrown at his head, causing a large bruise, and was regularly thrown into the air as a toddler, hitting his head on the ceiling on at least one occasion.
Vickers also squeezed his wife's wrist hard back in 2006 while she was knitting her newborn baby a teddy bear.

Vickers, who last month pleaded guilty to 20 charges of assault on a child, and one charge each of injuring with intent to injure, injuring with reckless disregard, assault with a weapon, and assaulting a female, appeared before Judge Louis Bidois in Tauranga District Court yesterday  for sentence.
 

Crown prosecutor Heidi Wrigley said some of Vickers' children were left with permanent damage, particularly the son, who suffered from a post traumatic stress disorder and might never recover.
 
Vickers' lawyer Liz Jamieson said while it may have been difficult for Vickers to realise at the time that what he was doing was bad, that was because he was a bit slow - however, he had accepted responsibility for his wrongdoing, felt remorse and regretted causing any trauma to his children.
"He wishes he could turn back the clock and do things differently.
"He accepts he is unlikely to get home detention," she said.
Judge Bidois told Vickers home detention was definitely out of the question but gave him credit for his early guilty pleas.
"In terms of the specific victim impact statements, it's clear because of your conduct you have not only affected their schooling but knocked the children's confidence and sense of trust on every conceivable level, and because of you they were taken out of their home and left scarred.
"I'm sure you are ashamed by your behaviour and are truly remorseful."
Judge Bidois said he had to assess the overall seriousness of Vickers' offending.
"It goes without saying that this is very serious and it's clear you created a reign of terror in your house."
Judge Bidois said Vickers may well have thought that he was disciplining his children, but it was difficult to understand how he could have ever thought it was acceptable to mete out this type of violence.