SON LEFT MUM, 73, WITH FRACTURED EYE SOCKET AFTER ATTACK
45-year-old jailed after ‘shameful’ assault in family home
VIOLENT Andrew Boniface punched his 73-year-old mother, got her in a headlock and fractured one of her eye sockets in a terrifying attack.
Stoke-on-trent Crown Court heard the unprovoked assault happened in the family home and left his mum bleeding ‘profusely’.
It only ended when the defendant’s twin brother saw what was happening and shut himself in an upstairs toilet so he could call the police.
Now Boniface, of Woodland Grove, Burslem, has been jailed for 20 months after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.
Maninder Chaggar, prosecuting, said the attack occurred after he had arrived home from work on February 6.
His mother thought he was on some sort of stimulant as he didn’t seem his normal self.
The court was told that the 45-year-old defendant has paranoid schizophrenia and, although this is controlled through medication, the use of alcohol can exacerbate his condition.
On the day in question, Boniface started arguing with his brother and it broke out into a fight.
Mrs Chaggar said: “Their mother managed to separate them and sent the brother upstairs to try to keep the peace in the house.
“The defendant then wanted to go out in his car, but she stopped him. He began arguing and went outside. He was becoming more and more angry.
“A neighbour tried to intervene. He then turned his anger towards that neighbour.
“As the defendant went back into the house, he proceeded to punch his mother in the face. The neighbour went to check if she was OK.”
His mother went into the living room and sat in a chair. Boniface followed her.
“Without any warning, he started thumping and hitting her repeatedly to the face,” Mrs Chaggar told the court.
“She thought it might have been four or six times. She started screaming for help.”
Boniface’s brother came downstairs and saw he had their mother in a headlock. When officers arrived at the home, Boniface was ‘wholly uncooperative’. In interview, he later admitted hitting his victim. He said he didn’t mean to do it and it was because his mother ‘aggravates things’.
The court heard her injuries included a fractured right eye socket, a cut to the back of the head which needed stitches, a cut to the right ear, and bruising to her face and body.
She described feeling ‘very frightened’ at the time of the attack.
Jason Holt, mitigating, said: “It may well be that his paranoid schizophrenia was not properly being controlled at the time. It is now and he feels very well.”
Sentencing him, Judge David Fletcher said: “Assaulting a 73-year-old woman is serious in any circumstances.
“It’s especially serious when it is your own mother and in your own home, which she allowed you to reside in. It’s shameful.”