Man threw boiling water over dad after row
Northumbria PoliceA man who poured a kettle full of boiling water over his father after a row has been jailed for four and a half years.
Daniel Gaunt, 22, already had a history of assaulting relatives while drunk or on drugs when he carried out the attack in his grandmother's garden in Hebburn in September, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
The victim, who suffered multiple burns, said he felt "utterly betrayed" by Gaunt and, while he knew his son to be "volatile", he never expected the violence to escalate so far.
Gaunt, whose previous convictions included an attempt to poison his mother, had admitted assaulting his father but jurors found him guilty of attempting to cause the man grievous bodily harm.
After an argument on 21 September, Gaunt filled a kettle, boiled it and then poured it over his father, prosecutor Ian Cook said.
The man suffered widespread burns across his body but thankfully they were "superficial" and not too deep, the court heard.
'Very painful injuries'
In a statement read to the court, the victim said he felt an "overwhelming sadness that things [had] reached this point".
He felt "utterly betrayed" by his son and he did not know if he would ever be able to trust him again, the man said.
"I know he can be volatile but nothing made me think it could come to this," the man said, adding their relationship had deteriorated due to Gaunt's use of drink and drugs.
The court heard Gaunt, of no fixed abode, had 26 offences on his criminal record including for assaulting his grandmother and putting paint thinner in his mother's glass of wine.
In mitigation, the court heard he had been diagnosed with a mental disorder.
Judge Sarah Mallett said the attack "fortunately " did not cause the serious harm Gaunt intended but the victim's injuries would still have been "very painful".
Having been deemed a "dangerous offender", Gaunt will have to serve a further four and half years on extended licence upon his release from prison.
Speaking after the sentencing, Det Sgt Daniel Ross of Northumbria Police said the attack "must have been a truly horrendous ordeal" for the victim who had been "left with lifelong scars".
Gaunt was "clearly a very dangeorus individual", the officer said.
