Furniture piled on attacked mother

An elderly Rotorua woman whose finger was bitten off and her eyes gouged when she was allegedly attacked by her schizophrenic son lay screaming for help for a day before she was found.


Heavy items of furniture had been piled on top of her battered and mutilated body.


There is concern the widow may be left blind from the attack which took place in her home.

Medical practitioners had reportedly voiced concerns about her 41-year-old son's deteriorating mental state in the days leading up to attack.

The Lakes District Health Board confirmed the man was known to its mental health service and said it was investigating.

The board would not reveal the type of treatment or care the man had received from the service, but Rotorua police said he was under the care of his mother and a community mental health nurse.

They said he was a schizophrenic with a history of mental illness, but did not live in a residential facility.

"Clearly his mental state deteriorated over just a few days," Senior Sergeant Dennis Murphy said.

"Medical practitioners have noted his mental state deteriorated."

The practitioners included one of his doctors, Mr Murphy said.

The man has been charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and is scheduled to appear in the Rotorua District Court on April 5.

He has been remanded in custody in Hamilton's secure mental health unit, the Henry Bennett Centre, for a psychiatric evaluation in the meantime.

The Lakes board said it had launched an investigation as standard policy in these type of incidents.

"A full review of the circumstances surrounding the case will be undertaken and findings will be forwarded to the Ministry of Health and other agencies, as appropriate."

A spokeswoman for the board said it would reveal no other information at this stage, but similar investigations in the past had been completed in one to two weeks.

The man is believed to have begun his attack on his mother about 10am on Sunday, allegedly biting off her right index finger, gouging both her eyes with his fingers and beating her around the head.

Her screams went unheard until the next morning, when she is understood to have been found by her other son.

As well as losing her finger, the grandmother of two faces the possibility of going blind.

Rotorua Hospital would not release details of her condition yesterday, but it is understood that surgeons have been unable to save at least one eye.

The man, who lived elsewhere, is alleged to have cut telephone wires in the house and barricaded himself in the toilet after the attack.

The son who found his mother declined to comment on her condition.

A neighbour who has known the family for 14 years criticised the care as woefully inadequate, saying the burden had fallen on the mother.

"She's not a professional, just a mother trying to do the best for her son, and that's put her at risk."

The neighbour, who did not want to be named, said the son had been ill for many years and needed to be in a secure facility.

Asked to describe the son's mental state, he said, "It would be a timebomb waiting to go off."

The neighbour said police had been called to the house several times when the son became violent, but his mother never pressed charges.

Another neighbour said the woman never complained about caring for her son because she loved him and her other son so much.

"It's so sad. It's just so sad."