A man and woman have been sentenced to nine months in jail for physically harming two boys in their care and counseling them to claim their natural mother sexually abused them.
The couple, who cannot be named under a court-ordered publication ban against information that could identify the victims, were sentenced in Prince George provincial court on Monday.
The boys were the father's from a previous marriage and the two were living with him and their stepmother when the attacks occurred.
The assaults included being hit with a board in one case and being whipped across the head with a cord in another, and then having the wounds sutured at home rather than having the victim taken to a doctor.
Both of them were in their early teens when the attacks occurred about four years ago.
At one point, the boys were taken away from their natural mother over the allegations of sexual assault but were returned when the two recanted their claims and said the father had encouraged them to lie to social workers and police.
The father was issued a concurrent six-month sentence for public mischief by diverting suspicion to another on that matter.
They must also serve 18 months probation upon completion of their jail terms.
