Son attacked mother in Great Barr with pickaxe handle
A son repeatedly attacked his mother with a pickaxe handle after flying into a rage because family dogs had been in his bedroom, a court heard.
Simon Hill, who has mental health issues, attacked his mother at their Great Barr home after consuming a cocktail of alcohol and prescription drugs.
He was incensed by the fact dogs had been in his bedroom after returning home in the early hours of July 22, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
Miss Sally Cairns, prosecuting, said: "He had been drinking and went into his bedroom, then became angry because family dogs had been near his bed...
"The defendant then got a pickaxe handle in his hand which he used to push his sister in the stomach.
"His mother called the dogs to come into her room and the defendant went into the bedroom after them brandishing the pickaxe handle."
He tried to strike the animals but instead struck his mother to the back of her head, Miss Cairns said.
As she ushered the dogs from the room, Hill then hit his mother again – this time to the arm, the court heard. He also struck her on her side later on.
Hill's mother and his sister then ran out of the house in Holland Road and he followed them – smashing a light fitting and a window to the living room.
Police were called and Hill, of no fixed abode, was arrested.
His mother suffered bruises to her side, her left arm and a lump to the back of her head.
Hill, 30, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage at an earlier hearing.
Mr Christopher Loach, defending, said: "[Hill] has limited knowledge and memory of the circumstances of what happened but doesn't dispute his mother's account.
"In the time leading up to the incident he was in a poor psychological state."
Hill had consumed 'a substantial amount of alcohol' and medication, both his own and his mother's, 'in an attempt to harm himself', Mr Loach added.
Judge Amjad Nawaz said: "The distasteful element [of this incident] was you using a weapon on your mother.
"That weapon was a pickaxe handle. The offences were committed after you had gone out and, on your own assertion, taken some medication...and voluntarily consumed alcohol.
"Having returned and found dogs in your bedroom, for some reason you became angry.
"For [your mother] it must have been extremely frightening."
Hill was jailed for 20 months for the assault and one-month to run concurrent for the criminal damage.
