Son gouged eyes of frail father he was caring for in 'chilling' attack

A man from Cornwall has been jailed for an attack on his frail father in which he gouged at one of his eyes.

Julian Thomas, 48, was acting as a carer for his dad when he brutally attacked him when drunk - repeatedly punching and headbutting him.

His father went on to suffer a cardiac arrest from the stress of the ordeal.

As a result, Thomas, of Chili Road, Illogan Highway, was jailed. He appeared at Truro Crown Court for sentencing having pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Prosecuting Katie Churcher told the court Thomas was meant to be caring for his father at the time of the incident in May of this year.

She said: “Mr Thomas senior was watching TV when his son came over and began repeatedly punching and headbutting him. Mr Thomas senior was aware the defendant had been out all day consuming alcohol.

“The attack lasted approximately 10 minutes during which Mr Thomas senior held his hands up to protect himself.”

Ms Churcher described how the victim pressed a panic alarm and when another relative turned up the defendant said “I’m sorry Sharon, if you weren’t here I don’t know what I’d have done”.

Thomas admitted to police putting his fingers in his dad’s eye and said it wasn’t the first time.

His father was taken to hospital struggling to breathe and went on to suffer a cardiac arrest from the stress of the ordeal.

During police interview, the defendant said he was a '10 on the drunk scale' and didn't remember much of the attack. He added that he remembered going to his dad’s, there being a disagreement and then trying to gouge his eyes out and headbutting and punching him.

Defending Deni Mathews said: “He is 48 and relatively lightly convicted. He has a prescription to treat anxiety and is on anti-psychotic medication. At the time of the offence, there was a deterioration in his mental health and he wants to take advantage of the help available to him.”

Sentencing Thomas, Judge Simon Carr described the circumstances as “chilling”.

He said: “Your father was 80 and in poor physical health and effectively housebound. He has since been moved to a nursing home.

“You’d been providing services as a carer for a relatively short period of time. I appreciate this is stressful but your way of dealing with it was to get drunk. When you returned, you committed a sustained and brutal assault on an 80-year-old man. You punched him repeatedly and headbutted him a number of times.

“He was taken to hospital and had a heart attack, no doubt caused by your actions. During the attack, he was able to press a panic button. If he didn’t, I have no doubt you would have carried on.

“I read about your mental health but I have no doubt that what caused this attack was your drunkenness.”

Bound by the sentencing guidelines for ABH, Judge Carr sentenced Thomas to two and a half years in prison. He also put in place a restraining order.