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Son beaten by father sues mother in High Court
A man is suing his mother over her alleged failure to protect him from his father’s beatings.
The 32-year-old County Durham man, who cannot be identified, told the High Court in London that his mother, now in her late 60s, assaulted him herself.
He claimed that she aided and abetted daily punishment by her husband by reporting his wrongdoings.
His mother denied liability and has claimed the case was brought outside the legal time limit.
The man, who was brought up in west London, claimed he was assaulted up to four times a day between the ages of five and 19 by the father he called a “tormentor”.
He said he was hit with a stick, belt, electrical lead or wooden brush until he was 16 and struck with an open hand and throttled or choked as he got older.
‘Reasonable chastisement’His mother said her son was “exaggerating”.
She did agree that she slapped him occasionally but said it was “reasonable chastisement” and denied hitting him with a clothes brush.
The son said in court: “I saw that she did not like me and it led me to think that her primary concern in seeking help was to make her home life run more smoothly and not the welfare of myself or my siblings.
“I wouldn’t say my mother had done her best to protect me. I always felt she could have done more.
“She wasn’t a tormentor like my father was, continually looking for excuses to assault me.
“For the best part of it she was herself fairly harmless.”
The man is seeking damages for pain and suffering as well as £7,800 to pay for therapy.
He claimed he first consulted a solicitor 10 years ago but did not take action as he found ordinary life a struggle.
wtf :shock:
Actually good on him ! Brave man . . it takes a lot of courage to speak up about violence and abuse in the home and many a blind eye is turned to it. If parents now have to take responsibilty for their children’s unruly behaviour surely innocent children have the right to make them take responsibilty for their own too !
He isn’t speaking up he’s suing, £7,800 for therapy plus damages though it’s not about the money ?
@pete wrote:
He isn’t speaking up he’s suing, £7,800 for therapy plus damages though it’s not about the money ?
no amount of money could ever make up for a childhood of abuse violence and neglect. £7800? If it were about the money he’d be suing for a lot mor 0’s !
No amount of suing could make someone in their late 60’s cough up the extra 0’s. I’ll give it 5 yr and this country will sue for everything and anything just like the U.S.
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