A VIOLENT father who assaulted two teenage daughters by hitting them with a screwdriver and a wooden spoon and punching them over a three-hour period has been jailed for 18 months.
The 43-year-old man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, assaulted his daughters when they tried to protect their mother who had intervened in an argument he was having with his son.
One of the daughters, who is now estranged from the family, said in a victim impact statement: "Because I have spoken out about my father's violence, I am no longer welcome in the family home. They are too scared of him to show me any support.
"It's amazing to wake up every morning without the constant threat of being subjected to abuse.
"I should have felt safe in the family home... it was like a torture chamber."
During the incident, which started at 11pm on a May evening in a house in Derby, the father slapped and punched one of his daughters before hitting her across the back with a vacuum cleaner cable.
The girl had then gone into her bedroom and called the police.
Sarah Allen, prosecuting atDerby Crown Court, said: "The police arrived. The defendant spoke to the officers and as the family were all sitting quietly they believed everything was in order and left. The girl was too scared to tell police it was her who had telephoned. After they left, the father demanded to know who had called the police."
It was then the defendant picked up a screwdriver and used it to hit his two daughters on the knees and punched their heads. "He made them kneel in front of him and hit them to their head and hands with the screwdriver," said Miss Allen.
He then used the head scarf of one of them to throw her on to the settee and tried to strangle her with his hands – she had struggled to breathe and was flailing about and screaming. The other girl tried to protect her sister but he pulled her off the sofa and continued to assault the other girl.
The attacks ended at 2.30am when the girls managed to go to bed. However the next day he began to attack one of the girls again and that was when the other teenager called the police.
Sentencing the man, Recorder Nigel Daly said: "It was an extreme abuse of power and the trust daughters are entitled to put in their fathers."
The man admitted three offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
