A Canadian bridal shop owner will not face conviction for hanging a 7-year-old boy by a coat hook until his face turned purple, after a judge ruled that the shopkeeper posed no threat to the public.
The bridal shop owner, Rodney Philpott, 54, was found guilty of assaulting the child in Provincial Court in July. However, in September, a judge granted Mr. Philpott an absolute discharge — a sentence in Canada where a finding of guilt carries no criminal conviction — calling the act ill-advised “horseplay.”
The boy, who is not named in court filings alongside his family, had accompanied his father’s fiancé to try on wedding dresses in March 2025 at the bridal shop located in Newfoundland. According to a ruling by Judge Lloyd Strickland, the boy was “hyper and running about” the store. The boy’s grandmother testified that he was “tormenting” Mr. Philpott.
Mr. Philpott turned the hood of the boy’s winter coat inside out and hung him on a hook on the wall, according to testimony from those who accompanied him. “He dangled from the hook and his face turned purple,” according to testimony from the ruling.
After a few minutes, Mr. Philpott observed the child was in distress and said, “Are you choking there little buddy?” according to testimony. He then unhooked the child from the hanger, leaving the boy with a bruise on his neck.
The bride-to-be had a “breakdown,” and they all left the store.
Mr. Philpott has maintained his innocence and denied the allegations at trial. He did so again in a phone interview, saying, “me and God knew in the beginning what happened — I swore on that Bible.”
Judge Strickland wrote that it was “an ill-considered, misguided continuation of horseplay,” but decided not to convict or punish Mr. Philpott with probation in a later ruling on Sept. 24. He was granted what is known as an “absolute discharge,” the lowest-level adult sentence which allows a person to be found guilty, but have no conviction registered.
The boy’s father had submitted a victim impact statement in support of a probation order. The father said his son missed a few days of school while recovering, had trouble sleeping and has become scared of returning to the mall where the bridal shop is, court records say.
Still, the judge wrote that Mr. Philpott’s actions were “misguided but not malicious.” He also said that because Mr. Philpott does not have a criminal record, he was not concerned that the man “may do anything of the sort again.”
“The boy was hyper and probably a distraction,” the judge wrote. But he acknowledged that the decision was unusual, given the case involved a child.
“The unique circumstances of this offense and this offender satisfy the court that a discharge would not be contrary to the public interest,” the judge said. “He has been a contributing member of the community and a respected businessman for some time.”
