NRI father jailed 18 months for beating wife and son
Beat your child and get charged for child abuse
Beat your wife and go to jail.

London, Dec. 04, 2008
Col. Sajan Singh

NRI Kiran Soni, 54, Birmingham, who dragged his wife across the floor by her hair and beat his 13-year-old son with a cricket bat, has been jailed for 18 months.

Nottingham Crown, Court heard:

• Soni punched his wife in the stomach and kicked her in the chest, Nottingham Crown
• He had a significant alcohol problem for which he was seeking help.

Judge Bennett said:

• I regard this case as a very serious one of its kind and you need to learn that if you use violence on your family you go to jail.
• You grabbed her by her hair. You dragged her across the floor.
• "You were punching her in her stomach and you offered her a flying kick to her chest, as in a judo move.
• Then, you pick up a cricket bat and whack your 13-year-old son. Luckily for you, and for him, the injuries were not severe

Adrian Reynolds, Soni' lawyer said:

• His client, who has moved to Corisande Road in Birmingham since the assaultshad, shown genuine remorse for his actions.
• He pleaded guilty to harassment, assault causing actual bodily harm and two charges of common assault at an earlier hearing.
• When it comes to assaulting one's own children, you can hardly do more to hit rock bottom
• Soni was heavily in debt and that a prison sentence could mean the home his wife is living in could be repossessed.

Soni admitted the offences but wrote a letter to Judge Dudley Bennett before he was sentenced which said: "It's because in India I've been brought up that way."