Violent stepdad left infant stepson covered in 20 bruises to his body during a 'catalogue of cruelty' at family home in Leeds

A stepdad subjected his infant stepson to a 'catalogue of cruelty' including punching him to the head and throwing him into the air and letting the youngster land on his head.
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A court heard horrifying details of the abuse and suffering caused to the child at a family home in Leeds.

Leeds Crown Court heard the stepdad attacked his stepson on multiple occasions over a 15-month period when he was aged three and four.

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He was jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to cruelty to a child.

Leeds Crown CourtLeeds Crown Court
Leeds Crown Court

The defendant, who the YEP has chosen not to name in order to protect the identity of the young victim and to fully report the details of the case, confessed to police how he had regularly assaulted the boy.

Andrew Epsley, prosecuting, said the defendant and his girlfriend had children together.

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Police interviewed the stepdad after being contacted by hospital and nursery staff over concerns that the boy may have been the victim of physical attacks from one or both of his parents.

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The defendant, aged in his 20s, identified five separate incidents when he had harmed the child.

He described how the victim had been taken to hospital with a bruised face on one occasion when he 'lashed out' when the child had bitten his finger.

Mr Epsley said the boy's parents deliberately kept the child away from nursery after another assault after he was left with bruising to his face.

The stepdad told police: "We were play fighting on the floor and I slapped him to the face too hard."

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Asked if he had given the child a black eye, the defendant replied: "Part of me feels I could have."

The court heard how a doctor examined the child and 20 bruises were found on his body.

On another occasion the child was taken to nursery with bruising to the back of his head and scratches to his ear.

The boy told staff at the nursery: "Daddy did it."

The child was examined by a doctor on another occasion and was found to have bruising to his legs, abdomen and his ear.

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The doctor stated that the injury to the ear could only have been caused by a direct blow or pinching.

When officers asked about those injuries the defendant said he had been playing catch with the boy.

He admitted throwing his stepson into the air and deliberately letting him fall to the floor, landing on his head.

The stepdad went on to admit how he had punched the boy to the back of the head with a closed fist during another attack.

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The prosecutor said the stepdad told medics he had accidentally struck the boy while having a seizure.

The youngster told staff at Leeds General Infirmary that "his dad had been naughty and hit him."

Mr Epsley said the mother was interviewed by police and admitted to keeping her son away from nursery to hide his injuries from staff.

She received a caution for her behaviour.

The prosecutor said: "On each occasion there was a failure to seek medical help and a deliberate concealment from nursery staff, paramedics and doctors."

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The court heard all the children had now been removed from the care of the parents.

Richard Reed, mitigating, said his client pleaded guilty at an early stage.

Mr Reed said the defendant had also suffered an abusive childhood.

He added: "People who have been abused can turn into an abuser.

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"It is not an excuse but is perhaps an explanation as to why these offences occurred."

Judge Simon Batiste said: "Children in their own home are entitled to feel safe.

"They are entitled to feel that their parents or stepparents are there to protect them, to ensure that they are safe.

"You have very much betrayed that entitlement because you have involved yourself in a catalogue of cruelty towards your stepson who was only three to four years old during the 15 months with which these offences were committed.

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"You used violence against him, clearly on a number of occasions.

"In your own account you have deliberately thrown him in the air and not caught him, causing him to fell on his head.

"You have slapped him to the face and punched him to the back of the head with your fist.

"What is startlingly obvious is the contrast in the way you treated your stepson and the way you treated your own children, who had no injuries."

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The judge continued: "You suffer from anxiety and depression. It is possible you have repressed feelings towards your own upbringing where you might have been abused.

"But that gives you no excuse.

"That provides no mitigation."