‘The father of my child was branded a paedophile for this photo’

IT WAS one of those precious and intimate moments captured on camera between a father his and newborn bub that would be cherished forever:

Sean looking adoringly into his six-week-old baby girl’s eyes to give her a sweet little kiss on the lips just before she has a bath.

The smitten dad loved the photo so much that he put it as profile picture on Facebook to show the beautiful connection between him and his tiny little Bella.

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But shockingly, one woman in a Facebook group where Sean commented on a post was so offended by the photo that she bombarded Sean with the most inappropriate, obscene and unnecessary remarks.

“She said that he was a pedo and ‘what father kisses his daughter on the lips?’ She said she was calling DOCS (now Family and Community Services) so he can’t molest his daughter anymore — and was constantly calling him a child rapist and paedophile,” his partner Christal tells Kidspot.

“The picture has been Sean’s cover photo since that photo was taken as that is his favourite picture and he always has himself and Bella in all profile pictures so she went into his profile and screenshotted the picture and posted it saying he was a paedophile.”

THE OFFENSIVE COMMENTS REDUCED THE NEW DAD TO TEARS

In utter disbelief — Christal and Sean felt a whole whirlwind of emotions from the bizarre and hurtful comments.

“I felt angry at first, I have never had anyone call him that or even imply that and Sean was crying — so I knew he took what she was saying to heart,” she says.

“This also got me very confused — how can a father kissing his daughter at six weeks old before she got in the bath be a pedo?

“I then felt sad to think that someone would think that and it made me question if others felt the same about the photo and if I was just seeing at as beautiful when it was inappropriate to others.

“So the mum-of-one decided to share the image in a mums group to get their views and received an overwhelmingly positive reaction.

“I felt relieved and happy that the mums were on my side and that they were on the same page as me.”

However, sadly, the women admitted that many of their male partners wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing such an intimate moment on social media.

“I would never have looked at it in a negative way and as the woman who said the negative things was a mother, I wanted to see if it was seen by others as just a beautiful picture,” Christal explains.

“But I was surprised at how many mums said their partners wouldn’t share these moments due to these kind of negative reactions.

“I know many fathers that are scared of this reaction.”

It upsets Christal that fathers feel they can’t be as openly affectionate with their children in public as mothers so easily do.

“I know many fathers that are scared of this reaction — yet I don’t know any mothers who are. I feel this is why men are scared to change nappies or kiss their child in public,” she says.

“It honestly hurts to think that men won’t post pictures or do things in public because of someone assuming things to be sinister instead of what it really is.