'Impeccable' father jailed for killing son-in-law with a bat

A 64-YEAR-OLD primary school teacher who killed his son-in-law with a cricket bat as he tried to defend his daughter was today jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Kenneth Bassarath went to his daughter Celosia's east London flat after she phoned him. She was cowering in a bedroom with her children, the court heard.

Bassarath took a swing at her husband, supermarket worker Sergio Mendes, 32, knocking him to the ground and causing brain injuries from which he later died. The devout churchgoer, of Hackney, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.

His daughter wept as she told Old Bailey jurors: "It was an accident. We all loved each other and it is not fair what's happened to us."

Judge Gerald Gordon agreed that Bassarath was of "impeccable character" but dismissed a call by David Fisher QC, defending, that he should be given a suspended sentence. Mr Fisher said: "There can be few people who have been in this dock who have led a better life. He has devoted his life to his family, to the teaching profession, and to the church. What actual benefit is there going to be in a lengthy sentence of imprisonment? When he realised what he did his punishment began then."

The court heard Bassarath believed Mr Mendes was "unstable" and wrenched the bat from his hand as he confronted him. Outside court Detective inspector Alan Moore said: "It is obviously a tragic case but a young man has lost his life."