A “sadistic” dad forced his children to eat their pet rabbit and strangled their dog in front of them during decades of abuse, a court heard.
The 77-year-old thug put his kids through 15 years of ‘sadistic and gratuitous’ physical and emotional abuse during the 1970s and 80s. A court heard on one occasion he killed the family’s pet rabbit and forced the children to eat it for supper.
He also made the youngsters choose between the two family dogs, before dumping one in the countryside and driving off, while the children watched it chase the family car.
One of the children, who was scared of spiders, was forced to lie in the cellar, while a spider was placed on her face. They were also “lined up” and beaten with “sticks and weapons” for minor misdemeanours, including wetting themselves.
The evil father, of Market Drayton, Shropshire, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, was jailed at Shrewsbury Crown Court on January 1.
Prosecutor, Anthony Longsworth said the incidents of physical and mental humiliation spanned the victim’s entire childhoods. He added all three children had suffered psychologically throughout their lives, with several becoming dependent on alcohol, one attempting suicide, while the third left the country as soon as they were able to leave home.
Major update shared on UK gas levels amid concerns over ‘concerningly low’ stocks
The man was sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court
(
Image:
Google Maps)
Mr Longworth said ““They were forced to eat the family pet. He ruined them all.” He also told the court he also strangled a family dog in front of the children. The man, who had denied child cruelty, had told a jury trial he was “just a disciplinarian”.
But he was convicted of three counts of child cruelty and one count of actual bodily harm for kicking and punching his daughter, leaving her scarred, after she came home with a love bite. Jailing him for three-and-a-half years, Recorder Julian Taylor branded the defendant a “bully and a sadist”.
He said: “This went far beyond discipline or reasonable chastisement. It was cruelty and physical abuse occurring regularly.” The judge continued: “You put a spider on the face of one child, along with the cruelty to the family pets, which was also cruelty to the children.
“One episode that I can’t forget, no matter how much I may want to, is that you asked them to make a choice between their two dogs and then you drive out to the countryside with the three children in the car, entice the dog out of the car and you shut the door and drive off and the children had to watch it running after the car.
“Their pet rabbit you killed and offered up for supper – whether the children started to eat the rabbit is unclear. Fact is it was killed and you said they must eat their pet rabbit.” However, in passing sentence the judge said he was “bound” by the sentencing guidelines of 40 years ago.
He added: “Times have changed. When these offences took place there was a maximum sentence of two years and I am bound to that. The maximum now is 14 years. But I am not constrained by the case of actual bodily harm when your child came back with a love bite, not uncommon with teenagers, and you went absolutely ballistic, lost all sense of control.”