A Nigerian man has been sentenced to three years in jail by an appeal court in London, United Kingdom, for physically abusing his nine-year-old son.

The 66-year-old offender initially received a 22-month prison term at the conclusion of his trial at the Crown Court in Woolwich, South-east London, which was deemed inadequate by the government.

Following the government’s appeal against the sentence imposed by the trial court, the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales in London increased the punishment to three years of imprisonment.

The Court of Appeal issued its judgment on December 22, 2022, stating, “The sentence of 22 months imprisonment will be quashed and replaced by a sentence of three years imprisonment.”

The trial Crown Court in Woolwich had initially sentenced the offender to a suspended sentence order, consisting of a custodial term of 22 months, suspended for 12 months, with a two-month electronic curfew from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Additionally, he was ordered to pay £500 in compensation to his son, whose identity was protected due to his age, as well as £250 in costs. The exact amount of the victim surcharge, a fine, was not disclosed.

The court judgment, did not disclose the names of the parties involved or the location of the alleged crime to safeguard the anonymity of the child.

The UK government, represented by the Solicitor General for England and Wales, appealed against the sentence imposed by the Woolwich Crown Court, arguing that it was unreasonably lenient. The government contended that the trial court did not consider “aggravating factors increasing the seriousness of the offense.”

Here is how the incident unfolded:

The offender was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and immigrated to the United Kingdom in 1990. At the time of the offense, he resided in London with his wife, stepdaughter (aged 17), and his two biological children, including the nine-year-old victim. His wife also had two adult sons who did not live with them.

During the lockdown, when schoolchildren were attending online classes, the victim’s mother discovered that her son had not been attending his classes for two days.

She informed her husband and prohibited the victim from playing computer games. On January 22, 2021, she left home to visit her eldest son, leaving the victim in the care of his sisters. When the father returned from work, he found the victim using the computer.

According to court documents, the father repeatedly struck the child across the back using metal sticks or rods he retrieved from a basket next to the television in the living room.

He also used his belt to strike him on the back, arms, and shoulders. The nine-year-old boy cried loudly, and one of his sisters witnessed the assault, while the other heard his cries from upstairs.

After the physical assault ended, the father ordered the victim to hold a metal stick above his head and face the garden, placing him in a stressful position for approximately two hours.

Two days later, when the mother returned home, she found her son in pain and discovered multiple bruises, cuts, and injuries on his body. She confronted the offender, who admitted to his actions but did not believe they were wrong.

The mother took her child to the hospital, where the injuries consistent with the use of a metal stick-like implement were documented.

The police were provided with the metal sticks used by the offender, leading to his arrest on January 25, 2021.

Initially, he expressed remorse but later denied assaulting his son or any of his children with a stick or belt during the police interview. Instead, he blamed his wife, alleging that she encouraged the children to fabricate allegations against him due