US soldier waterboards child for failing to recite alphabet

Feb 8, 2010, 17:08 GMT

San Francisco - A US soldier was arrested and charged with child assault for waterboarding his daughter because she couldn't recite the alphabet, news reports said Monday.

Joshua Tabor, 27, allegedly admitted to police in Tacoma, Washington, that he used the torture technique because his four-year- old daughter was terrified of water and he was furious that she didn't know her ABC.

Tabor told police that he held the little girl's head backwards in a sink of water, Yelm police chief Todd Stancil told local reporters.

Tabor reportedly told a police officer that he and his girlfriend 'held her down on the counter and submerged her head into the water three or four times until the water came around her forehead and jawline,' according to reports.

'Joshua did not act as though he felt there was anything wrong with this form of punishment,' the police report said.

Police arrested Tabor after neighbours reported him walking around drunk, wearing a Kevlar Army helmet and threatening to break windows.

They found the little girl locked in a bathroom with bruises on her back and scratch marks on her neck and throat, reports said.