Two wannabe vigilante fathers have severely beaten an autistic boy with a metal baseball bat after falsely accusing him of breaking into their home.
32-year-old Luke Perry and Daniel Street, who are neighbors, tracked the boy into a kebab shop in Denton, Greater Manchester, after suspecting him of breaking into one of their homes.
There, the pair took out their anger on the 14-year-old who was cowering in fear. “I’m going to have to teach that little s**t a lesson,” one of the men yelled as they were hitting the boy with a metal baseball bat and a walking stick.
During the beating, the boy suffered two fractured teeth and bruises all over his body including the face, back, and shoulder.
“This has affected my time at college and I have had to get dental treatment for my teeth. I am unable to go out as freely as I did as I feel in fear,” the 14-year-old told the police, adding that his family moved away from the area after the incident.
“I stayed with my Mum four days after the accident for my own protection and I returned home to my Dad’s address after.
“It’s very stressful living in such close proximity with those two men. I have to be taken backward and forwards to college. I found the process of giving evidence to be distressing.”
During the trial, Perry and Street both denied any wrongdoing and claimed their actions followed after the boy broke into one of their homes.
Without any previous convictions, both fathers were found guilty of assault and sentenced to 20 months in prison.
“This was nothing short of a punishment beating on a 14-year-old lad with autism,” Judge John Edwards said.
“I want to make it clear that you were not aware of his autism – however, you must have known he was a lad of 14 and you must have known how vulnerable he was.
“A man eating at a Thai restaurant opposite recalls seeing both of you hitting him half a dozen times as he tried to protect himself.
“He was left with two fractured adult teeth, the left, and right incisor, and he now requires root canal treatment and crowning.
“The hitting was described by one person as a stabbing motion. Whatever argument you had with him, you should not be dealing with the law in your own hands.
“This was a street beating where he was punched, kicked and struck with a metal bat. You both thought to give him a beating would be teaching him a lesson. Immediate custody is unavoidable.”
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