A MAN attacked his brother in the street and falsely claimed he was a paedophile, a court has been told.

Francesco Masi punched his brother as he called him a paedophile at least five times and made homophobic slurs.

He also called him a “fool” and an “a******” in Italian.

It left his brother “traumatised” and suffering from insomnia, and their father, who witnessed the incident, suffered a heart attack days later.

Masi, of Fitwell Road, was given a community order and a restraining order preventing him from contacting his brother.

The siblings had to be let out of Swindon Magistrates’ Court’s courtroom one at separate times.

Appearing in court having pleaded guilty to a section 4 public order offence on a ‘full facts basis’ in April, Masi said he didn’t agree with a sentence recommended to the court by the probation service because he was “not guilty”.

“I have some proof as well,” he told District Judge Joanna Dickens before she shut him down, saying she was unable to let him change his plea.

Setting out the case, prosecutor Tom Power told the court that the argument, on April 2, saw Masi try and drag his brother from a car and punch him several times to the head.

“He was calling him a paedophile and shouting out that he was gay,” he told the court.

In a victim statement, the brother said that the defendant had made “defamatory, malicious and vile allegations and made sure everyone heard every word, and placed my life in harm’s way”.

Summarising the rest of the statement, Mr Power continued: “He was left traumatised and beside himself. It was sickening and repulsive.

“He felt his life was in danger. He feels the defendant displayed no remorse let alone empathy.”

Representing himself, Masi told the court that he accepted name calling – with the exception of the homophobic comment – but not that he hit his brother.

He said his solicitor on the last occasion advised him to plead guilty to the section 4 offence, instead of assault and a more serious section 4a public order offence, which he was initially charged with.

Asked whether he accepted having a three-year restraining order which would prevent him contacting his brother, he first asked for a restraining order in the other direction before saying: “I’m not to talk to him for three years? I would prefer 50 years.”

Sentencing, District Judge Dickens said: “It’s obviously a serious incident, you cannot go around shouting, calling people those foul names.

“Those things are designed to basically ruin the reputation of everyone, so everyone can hear, and they will think that about him.

“You shouldn’t have behaved in that way but there clearly is family tensions.”

She imposed a year-long community order, during which the 52-year-old must complete 20 rehabilitation activity days and 80 hours of unpaid work.