South Coast stepdad refused bail accused of assault for scrubbing his stepson's penis with a loafer

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, fronted Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday charged with assault causing actual bodily harm.

Police documents tendered during the man’s bail application revealed the bizarre allegations, with police claiming his actions landed the boy in hospital.

Police said the man and the boy’s mother had been in a relationship for almost four years and had recently moved to a coastal town south of Wollongong when the man began watching the boy take showers at night.

It is alleged he would become angry at the boy and accuse him of not washing his genitals properly, prompting him to take to the boy’s penis with a loafer and scrub it.

The boy told police he repeatedly told his step-father the action hurt, however the man kept going, even telling him to “suck it up” on one occasion, it is alleged.

The boy said after each scrubbing episode his penis was painful and red and sometimes had “sores” on it.

He said he told his mother who in turn said she would speak to her partner about it, however the man apparently continued his behaviour towards the boy up until the last incident, on January 17, that preceded the hospital admission.

The court heard the mother took the boy to Shoalhaven Hospital on the morning of January 18 when he complained of a sore, red penis.

He was diagnosed at the hospital with balanitis (swelling to the penis head).

The case was referred to Wollongong child abuse squad detectives who interviewed the boy prior to his discharge from hospital on January 24.

The man was arrested the same day.

In refusing bail on Wednesday, Magistrate Mark Douglass said the allegations were “odd” but serious.

“There’s a twist to them that concerns the court,” he said.

“I have great concerns for the welfare of the young person.”

The case will return to court in February.