A series of court rulings across three continents has brought convictions for severe domestic violence and, in one instance, the rare punishment of a parent who fabricated abuse allegations. In Brazil, a 31‑year‑old man was filmed by security cameras kicking his three‑year‑old daughter in the face; in Russia, a man was sentenced for torturing his partner’s young children; and in Italy, two separate cases have seen a husband convicted of abusing his wife in front of their child and a mother found guilty of falsely accusing her ex‑partner of sexual violence against their son.

The Brazilian case, which unfolded in Francisco Beltrão, Paraná, led the state’s Public Prosecutor’s Office to charge the father with torture and two counts of qualified bodily injury. Investigators say he also forced his children, aged three and five, to kneel on bottle caps and grains, and struck the five‑year‑old with a piece of wood. The man, who remains in preventive detention, admitted the kick but said he ‘lost his head’ because the girl was crying. A court has issued urgent protective measures for the mother and children.

In Russia’s Vologda region, a 34‑year‑old man was sentenced to three years in a general‑regime penal colony for systematically beating his cohabitant’s minor children with his hands and a belt, restricting their food, locking them in rooms, and forcing them to strike each other. The abuse, which authorities say lasted from mid‑2024 into 2025, came to light after the children’s biological father and school staff alerted officials; the children have since been placed with their father. Meanwhile, a court in Brescello, northern Italy, handed a three‑year sentence to a 50‑year‑old man for mistreating his wife, including punching and slapping her in front of their minor daughter. He is now subject to an electronic monitoring order and has announced an appeal, with his lawyer arguing that only two isolated episodes occurred and that no medical certificates were produced.

In a separate Italian case that has drawn attention for its inversion of the usual pattern, a woman in Pistoia was convicted of calumny and sentenced to three years and eight months after a Florence tribunal found she had fabricated claims that her ex‑husband had sexually abused and beaten their young son. The court heard that she had carefully preserved hospital reports showing bruises on the child, but an investigation concluded she herself had caused the injuries, allegedly to seek financial compensation. She has been ordered to pay immediate provisional sums of €8,000 to the man and €15,000 to the child, and her parental responsibility has been suspended.

All four rulings remain subject to appeal or further legal steps. In the Brazilian and Russian cases, the convicted men are in custody; the Italian husband is under a restraining order while his appeal is prepared; and the Italian mother, who denies the charges, has been barred from approaching her son’s usual haunts. The children involved in each case have been placed under protective measures or with the other parent.