A MAN who repeatedly punched his 70-year-old father in the face and kicked him in the back, came “perilously close” to a jail sentence, a magistrate said.

But Barry Ralph , 22, was given a community punishment instead by Maidstone magistrates for a series of attacks on his parents since last December.

His father, Michael, and 65-year-old mother, Marian, attended the court and allowed a statement to be read calling on the authorities to help their son with his anger problems.

The statement from Michael Ralph said: “Although my bruising has healed I’m still emotionally affected. I’m not suffering for myself, but for my son. I’m desperate to know the progress of his case and how it will affect him in the future.”

Mr Ralph called for the court to offer his son help with his rage.

The case was heard during the first session of a new court specialising in domestic crime, which will be held every Wednesday morning.

The court heard of an “escalating episode of violence”. The first incident was last December 2 when Ralph, of Ashford Road, Maidstone, punched his father in the face while he was sitting down, the court heard.

That attack, and an assault on January 25, when he again punched his father in the face, were not initially reported to the police. But they came to light on February 20, when a third attack forced his father to go to hospital with injuries to his face and back.

Police arrived at the hospital to find Mr Ralph with bruised and blood-shot eyes, a bloody nose, a scratched face, and with a pain in his kidneys.

His son had punched him in the face six times and kicked him in the back, the court heard. Mrs Ralph had bruising and swelling on a finger and said she had been shoved by her son.

Ralph admitted the attacks in January and February and asked for the December assault to be taken into account by the court.

A solicitor representing Ralph said there was “nothing to say” in his defence, but told the court he would not return to his parents’ house until they invited him to do so.

Ralph was sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work for the February assault, will be supervised by the probation service for 18 months and will attend an anger-management programme.