NEW YORK
Rome Sentinel
BY SEAN I. MILLS
Staff writer
“Blows that hurt drive off evil.”
This paraphrased Bible verse — from Proverbs 20:30 — was going through Bruce Leonard’s mind as he and fellow Word of Life church members whipped his two sons with a power cord, according to his testimony in County Court Wednesday afternoon.
Lucas and Christopher Leonard had admitted to sexually molesting their younger siblings and nieces and nephews, and Bruce Leonard said he wanted to see them punished.
“So they understood the hurt that they had caused…discipline for punishing them,” Leonard testified. “It was more of a reaction to what they had said.”
Lucas, age 19, later died from his injuries. Christopher, 17, would have died from kidney failure, according to testimony, but he instead spent a week in the hospital.
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