Taxi driver locked son, 11, outside in the rain and then beat him with a metal umbrella

Children told their mother their father had told them they would be thrown in the hell fire by God if they told their mother what had happened, court heard

Man pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing harm to the child in his Dublin home on February 16, 2020.

A taxi driver who beat his 11-year-old son 20 times with an umbrella after locking him out of his house in the rain has been given a suspended sentence.

In the wake of the assault, the 42-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child, told his son not to tell his mother or he would be “thrown in the hell fire by God”, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard on Thursday.