I could (but haven't) have a friend verify, but I have a thought that it could be an issue of wrong tense use? If you change "did" to "would do" then it's something more in line with fearing that one will become like their parent(s) in some kind of unalterable way.
Not necessarily physical abuse? Like, he could be worrying that he's been abusing her in other ways (financial, psychological, etc...), and therefore instead of being an actually nurturing figure, he's been instead hurting Ruu.