A reunion with the father from whom he had been estranged for 30 years resulted in a Perth man receiving a 14-month prison sentence at Dundee Sheriff Court for an “atrocious” assault on the older man.
Joseph Francis Tindal rained an estimated 20 to 30 blows on his father’s head and twice had to be pulled off, the court was told on Wednesday. Tindal (35), of St Catherine’s Road, Perth, admitted assaulting his father Frank at the man’s home in Liff Road, Dundee, on January 4, repeatedly punching him on the head to his injury and committing the offence while on bail.
Depute fiscal Kirsty Anderson said father and son had only just started seeing each other after 30 years apart. Mr Tindal senior had driven to Perth to collect his son and his girlfriend and bring them back to Dundee to stay the night.
The group had been drinking in a pub and returned to Mr Tindal’s home, where Joseph Tindal at first became emotional when the conversation turned to his mother and the reasons his parents had broken up.
However, he later became aggressive towards his father and without warning walked over to where the older man was sitting and punched him repeatedly on the face. He was pulled off and taken out to the hallway but returned and again started to punch his father and again had to be dragged away.
Throughout the attack Mr Tindal did nothing to retaliate or to defend himself, Miss Anderson said. He was taken to hospital, where he was found to have “excessive” bruising and swelling to his eyes and cheekbones.
Joseph Tindal later told police that his father had punched him once and he had punched him back four times.
His lawyer Douglas McConnell told the court that Tindal, who has “numerous” previous convictions for assault, had been drinking to excess. The incident had arisen out of a family dispute and, though his account of what happened was slightly different to his father’s, he accepted that he had acted irrationally.
Jailing Tindal for 14 months, Sheriff Alistair Duff told him, “This was an atrocious assault and you have an appalling record for assault.”