Couple jailed for attack on daughter

Felt 17-year-old had shamed them by dating a black man

Acouple were jailed on Monday for a brutal attack on the daughter they felt had shamed them by dating a black man.

David and Frances Champion repeatedly punched Jane in the face and shouted racist abuse while kicking her boyfriend out of the family home.

They lost control after they returned home to find their 17-year-old daughter in a ‘state of undress’ with Alfonce Ncube, a court heard.

After throwing the waiter out of the house Champion, 50, grabbed his daughter by her hair and started to hit her, said Nicola Powell, prosecuting

“He told her she was destroying the family and pushed her out of the door, Champion shouting racist language to describe Mr Ncube,” she added.

Jane went to stay with her grandmother but returned to her parents in St Thomas, Swansea, once the situation had apparently calmed down.

But a month later her parents challenged her over Ncube when they returned from a pub. “David Champion asked his daughter if she was still seeing Mr Ncube. When she told him she was, he punched her in the face,” said Miss Powell.

“Miss Champion said she felt huge pain to her left eye but her father then grabbed her by the throat and continued hitting her.” Frances Champion, 47, then began hitting her daughter — causing swelling on her face and lumps on her head — yelling abuse at the teenager saying: “You deserve it. It is all your fault.” Swansea Crown Court was told she said her daughter had “brought shame on her family.”

The couple then went in search of Ncube at the Swansea restaurant where he worked.

When they were removed from the premises Frances Champion continued to bang on the restaurant window. John Hipkin, defending her husband, said his client knew that it was an “abhorrent” assault, adding: “It’s not excusable in any way, shape or form. But the circumstances in which he found his young .daughter meant he reacted in a terrible way. Lessons have been learned.”

Remorseful

Georgina Buckley, defending Frances Champion, said: “She accepts her actions were fuelled by alcohol and that she confronted her daughter in a wholly unacceptable and disgusting way. She is remorseful and her daughter has sent her a text message before the court hearing wishing her well.”

Judge Peter Heywood told the couple: “Your behaviour was disgraceful and you used vile language.”

David Champion was sentenced to 12 months in prison and his wife to nine months.