Girl, 6, forced to watch horror zombie film Night of the Living Dead as punishment for 'behaving like a child'
A man made a six-year-old girl in his care watch horror films as punishment, a court in Shropshire heard.
Peter Bayliss was convicted of one charge of historic child cruelty after he was found to have forced a young girl he was looking after to watch the zombie film Night of the Living Dead.
The 53-year-old had previously denied a number of charges related to the girl but, following a trial at Shrewsbury Crown Court, was found guilty of only one charge of child cruelty, relating to the showing of the video.
At his sentencing, the court heard the incident took place in the early 1990s in Malvern, Worcestershire.
Bayliss, now of Springfield Terrace in Pembroke, was condemned by Recorder Martin Jackson for punishing the girl for "behaving like a child".
Bayliss was said to have an ongoing alcohol problem, which affected his behaviour at the time of the incident.
He was given a six-month suspended sentence, ordered to complete an 18-month supervision order with the probation service and to complete 160 hours of unpaid work.
Recorder Jackson refused to give him a financial penalty as he was reliant on his wife's income and this would become a burden for the woman who was "wholly innocent" of the crime.
Recorder Jackson said the incident when the child had been shown the Night of the Living Dead, a zombie horror film, had been backed up by evidence from her mother.
He said that, he took into account that Bayliss' life in Wales was now more settled than it had been at the time.
He added: "These offences offences date back 20 years and since then you have suffered a brain haemorrhage, from your psychological report that may have been linked to your alcohol addiction.
"I take into account that you have recently woken up to the need to seek professional help for your drinking.
"This was not sustained abuse but you, quite deliberately, made a child watch a horror film as punishment for behaving like a child.
"And she suffered, not a long-term psychological injury, but from evidence she suffered nightmares for some time afterwards."
