"He made a big mistake, but really somewhere in his heart he (is) funny, lovable, caring and a great father."

"Everybody in my family ... is giving him a second chance... Will you?"

Said the 11-year old boy whose father tortured him:

He ripped the pre-teen's clothes off, beat him with a spatula and burned both his hands on a hot stove.

With the skin peeling from Christopher's hands, his father then punched the naked kid in the face and forced the screaming boy into the oven.

"I'm going to burn you alive!" he howled, according to law enforcement sources.

Moss eventually relented and let Christopher out of the oven - only to throw the nude child with the burned hands into the front yard.

When he let the injured boy inside, Christopher was ordered to sit on the floor "like a dog," court documents show.

But the boy cuddled with his father inside the courtroom before taking the witness stand to plead for his dad's release.

"Dear judge, I will fight so hard (for) my dad to live with me," the little boy began.

The judge gave the man "four months of weekends in jail and five years probation" instead of a 7-year sentence.