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NARROGIN: A New Zealand-raised man has been convicted in Australia for sadistic abuse of his three-year-old son, including deliberately burning the boy's finger with a lighter and pulling his nail out with pliers.

Jason David Ogier, 37, was yesterday jailed for two years and seven months for repeatedly assaulting the boy.

Magistrate Elizabeth Hamilton said the man, a father of nine, had little empathy for his children and the offences were part of an "ongoing and entrenched form of behaviour".-

Ogier, from the Perth suburb of Welshpool, was sentenced in the Narrogin Magistrates Court, southeast of Perth, where he and his family previously lived.

Ogier's wife, Belinda Ogier, 43, of Guilford, was given a six-month suspended sentence for neglecting her son, by failing to protect him from his father, warn the authorities or seek medical help for his injuries.

"The seriousness of the offences is in the gross breach of trust," Mrs Hamilton said during sentencing.

Ogier pleaded guilty in February to three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, four of common assault and one of breach of protective bail conditions between October 2004 and December 2006.

He had also admitted to stealing and possessing stolen property.

Ogier committed the worst offences in October 2004 while his wife was in hospital giving birth and he was entrusted with the care of their children.

To discipline his son for not eating his dinner, Ogier rubbed chilli powder on his back, causing the skin to blister.

He burned his son's hand with a cigarette lighter and when the finger became infected pulled the nail out with pliers, causing it to bleed.

Ogier also kicked his son with steel-capped boots and slapped his head from side to side, asking his other children if they wanted to join his game of "tennis".

When the three-year old had supposedly not finished his house chores, Ogier repeatedly beat him with a clenched fist, knocking him to the ground.

At no time did Ogier or his wife seek medical help for the boy.

Police prosecutor Sergeant David Murphy said Ogier had shown no remorse.

"(They are) barbaric acts of cruelty perpetrated on his own child, a defenceless, three-year-old boy," Mr Murphy said.

Earlier, Mrs Hamilton had stood the matter down because the couple denied some charges against them in pre-sentence reports, although they later agreed with the police facts.

At the time of the offences, the Ogiers were on community orders for a 2005 assault on their 11-year-old son.

In addition to his 31 months' jail, Ogier was ordered to pay a $A1800 ($NZ2070) fine.