Scott Southwell-Millard found guilty by ACT Magistrates Court of choking child

Scott Brian Southwell-Millard faced the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Magistrate Louise Taylor found Southwell-Millard guilty of choking another person, namely a four-year-old child who was in his care at the time of the offence.

Ms Taylor found the offender not guilty of a further charge of assault.

Southwell-Millard had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges and contested the accusations.

On April 10 last year, Southwell-Millard was left to babysit the autistic child along with three other siblings.

Southwell-Millard, who was a friend of the mother, had been staying with the family for about a month when he offered to look after the children.

The court heard the four year old had level three autism and, as a result, was non-verbal and required special care.

The child was known to put items such as plastic, hairbands and Styrofoam into his mouth.

The court heard action was often required to remove items from the child's mouth to prevent him from choking.

The boy often would not give up these items voluntarily.

His mother had told the court the child was affectionate and enjoyed hugs and kisses.

The mother described her son as "living in his own little bubble".

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When the mother returned from coffee with a friend on the day in question, she became concerned about the child.

Southwell-Millard told her the boy had vomited three times and there had been plastic in the vomit.

The woman observed the child's breathing to be slow and his heart rate off-beat.

She also saw pink and red dots on his face and bruises on neck, so she called an ambulance.

Video of the incident was captured in the home and shown to the court.

The footage showed Southwell-Millard with the child in the loungeroom. Southwell-Millard can be seen placing his right hand on the back of the boy's neck while holding a bottle in the other.

The boy can be seen resisting the hold and trying to move his head away from the bottle.

Southwell-Millard can be heard saying "drink" multiple times.

The offender maintained he was trying to remove something from the child's mouth and to get him to take a bottle.

Ms Taylor found the offender used "excessive and unnecessary" force to try and get the child to take the bottle.

However, Southwell-Millard was found not guilty of assaulting the boy while trying to get him to leave a bedroom on the same day.

Southwell-Millard was accused of assaulting the boy by pulling him from the middle of a bed and lifting him to the ground before making contact with his face.

The magistrate found Southwell-Millard had been removing an item from the child's mouth and had used an appropriate measure of force to protect the boy's safety.

She said the act was not "unreasonable or beyond the boundaries of standard parenting practice".

Ms Taylor said the offender "doesn't appear to me to be a sophisticated young man".

Southwell-Millard is set to be sentenced next Monday.

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