The New York State man who took part in a church beating that nearly killed both of his sons invoked a Biblical verse to explain the rationale behind them, WKTV-TV reported.

“Blows that hurt drive off evil,” said Bruce Leonard, who admitted to whipping both youths “so they would understand the hurt they caused” by molesting not only their sister, but the children of their half-sister, Sarah Ferguson. He said that he whipped 17-year-old Lucas Leonard and 17-year-old Christopher Leonard 20 times apiece with an electrical cord.

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The older son died as a result of the injuries he received during the attack last October. The younger son admitted in earlier testimony that they had abused sister Grace Leonard as well as Ferguson’s children. Grace Leonard testified that she was abused by her brothers between the ages of 4 or 5 and 13.

Gawker reported that Bruce Leonard then said he gave the cord to Ferguson, who whipped both boys in their groins, prompting him to say that the attack got “too big, too crazy” after Lucas Leonard started bleeding from his groin.

As Reuters reported, Leonard pled guilty last week to first- and second-degree assault in exchange for testifying against not only Ferguson — who is charged with second-degree murder — but six other people charged in connection with the assault