Racist UK couple jailed for beating daughter for dating a Zimbabwean boy

A ZIMBABWEAN teenager was subjected to racist abuse and assaulted by a British couple which disapproved of his relationship with their daughter, who is white.

David and Frances Champion also stalked Alfonce Ncube, 19, at a restaurant where he worked and banged on the door after they were shut out. The couple, from Swansea, South Wales, also attacked their 17-year-old daughter, Jane, because she had "brought shame" on their family by dating a black man, a court heard.

On Monday, the couple were jailed at the Swansea Crown Court. David Champion was sentenced to 12 months in prison and his wife to nine months after admitting assault on their daughter. David also admitted a charge of racially aggravated assault against Ncube. His wife, 47, admitted using threatening, abusive or offensive words or behaviour to cause racially aggravated fear or provocation of violence towards Ncube.

The couple were outraged when they returned home to find Jane in a "state of undress" with college boyfriend Ncube, the court heard. Champion, 50, shouted racist abuse at the Zimbabwean who came to England aged eight, before grabbing and kicking him as he pushed him out of the house.

He then grabbed his daughter by her hair and punched her. "He told her she was destroying the family and pushed her out of the door, while shouting racist language to describe Ncube," said Nicola Powell, prosecuting.

Jane went to stay with her grandmother but returned to her parents in St Thomas, Swansea, once the situation had apparently calmed down. But a month later her parents challenged her over Ncube when they returned from a pub.

"David Champion asked his daughter if she was still seeing Ncube. When she told him she was, he punched her in the face. Miss Champion said she felt huge pain to her left eye but her father then grabbed her by the throat and continued hitting her," said Powell.

Frances began hitting her daughter â€" causing swelling on her face and lumps on her head â€" yelling abuse at the teenager saying: "You deserve it. It's all your fault."

The pair then went in search of Alfonce who was "in hiding" at the restaurant where he worked. The couple began shouting and were removed from the restaurant but Frances continued to bang on a window.
 
John Hipkin, defending David Champion, said: "It's not excusable in any way, shape or form. But the circumstances in which he found his young daughter meant he reacted in a terrible way. Lessons have been learned."
 
Georgina Buckley, defending Frances Champion, admitted it was "disgraceful".

She said: "She accepts her actions were fuelled by alcohol and that she confronted her daughter in a wholly unacceptable and disgusting way.