Lewis David Cringle: Geraldton father fined for breaching bail, but charge of assault against 2yo son dropped

An assault charge slapped on a Tarcoola Beach father accused of striking his two-year-old son with an electrical cord has been dropped, but the man was given a hefty fine for breaching his bail conditions. Lewis David Cringle was arrested and charged with unlawful assault occasioning bodily harm on January 3 this year, with police alleging the man struck his toddler son with an electrical cord over the New Year’s Day long weekend. The child allegedly sustained bruising on his buttocks. Cringle later pleaded guilty to breaching his bail conditions — which prohibited him from having any contact with his partner and any unsupervised contact with his son — when police found him at a Tarcoola Beach residence in the presence of the alleged victim and his mother. He pleaded not guilty to the assault and was due to stand trial in Geraldton Magistrates Court on Tuesday. But the charge was dropped when Cringle’s partner — and primary police witness — did not attend court to provide evidence. Defence counsel Georgia Keysers said the mother had “made it clear she did not want to attend” the hearings, and Cringle wanted the matter dealt with as his son was distraught and unable to see his father. At a previous appearance, Cringle’s partner told Geraldton Magistrates Court she regretted making her statement to police and had requested the assault charge be discontinued. Magistrate Heidi Watson said she would not accept the arrest warrant and instead dismissed the charge given that the “main witness was unco-operative” and “did not want to give evidence”. Ms Watson fined Cringle $8000 for breaching his bail, saying the incident was aggravated by the fact the breach had occurred “fairly quickly” after he was placed on bail.