KEY POINTS:
It must have been a car trip from hell.
The boy said his mother smashed him in the face with her fist, bloodying his nose, during the journey in January last year.
The mother testified in Timaru District Court she just flicked him across his mouth with the back of her hand to stop him swearing - what her lawyer said in court was a display of parental discipline.
She said her teenaged son responded by punching her in the face with sufficient force to cause injury, and continued swinging punches.
The boy said he regretted hitting his mum but he had only struck her once. He added his stepfather stopped the car, punched and kicked him numerous times outside the vehicle, and claimed his mother gave the man duct tape to bind his arms to his legs.
The mid-Canterbury woman, 42, is on trial on two assault charges - striking her son, and encouraging her husband's assault by giving him duct tape to restrain the boy. The stepfather has pleaded guilty to assault with intent to injure and to two charges of assault. The case, before Judge Graeme Noble, is expected to end today.
- NZPA
