The dad shouted abuse at his 15-year-old son while whipping him with a television cable.
A dad in Plymouth, who was aged in his 40s, has been jailed for 18 months after whipping his 15-year-old son with a television cable and screaming homophobic abuse at him.
The attack happened after the dad discovered Grindr on his son’s phone.
The dad, who pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm, is unnamed to protect his son’s identity.
The Plymouth Herald reports that the dad made his son strip to his underwear before whipping him twenty times with a television cable. As he whipped him, he shouted “You are gay” and “you are a woman” as well as shouting “What’s that between your legs?”
Francesca Whebell for the Crown Prosecution Service, said that the son was “exploring his sexuality” and that the father had discovered pictures from Grindr the night before the attack. She said that the son attempted to explain the pictures away before leaving for a friend’s, but was then confronted the next morning.
Describing the attack, she said: “He hit him multiple times across his body, particularly his arm, breaking the skin there. While he was beating his son, the defendant was continuing to ask questions.”
The son escaped after asking to get a glass of water, before collecting his school uniform and leaving. At school, staff noticed something was wrong and the boy broke down in tears and described the attack.
However, the dad’s defence, Kevin Hopper, claimed that he supported his son’s sexuality, and was a “loving father”, only objecting to the images on the phone.
“It was not the images nor anything else which made him question his son’s sexuality,” he claimed. “He had been supportive. The fact that he has now lost contact with his own son has broken his heart. The remorse he has shown is genuine.”
Jailing him for 18 months, Recorder Marcus Pilgerstorfer, described the attack as a “cruel and brutal punishment” saying the attack was “motivated by his sexuality, or your perception of his sexuality.”
Referring to images of the boy’s injuries that were seen by the court, he added: “On the basis of the photographs, he is likely to be left with some scarring on his arm and he will inevitably suffer some psychological consequences.”
He concluded: “I have no doubt that part of the reason you became angry is that you saw material which you thought indicated he was bisexual.”
Related: 21-year-old jailed after he “flipped” and attacked gay veteran lover with a knife
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