Son charged with eye-gouging attack on mother dies

A mentally ill man who had been accused this week of biting off his elderly mother's finger and gouging her eyes has been found dead.

The 41-year-old man died in a mental health unit in Hamilton overnight apparently from natural causes, police said.

He was charged with assault after his 73-year-old mother was brutally attacked in her Ngongotaha home near Rotorua on Sunday.

She had her eyes badly gouged and had a finger bitten off.

Doctors feared she would go blind in one eye, possibly both.

The man, 41, was due to appear in Rotorua District Court earlier this week but was not considered to be mentally stable and was due to appear again next month.

Senior Sergeant Dennis Murphy said the man was found dead at the Henry Bennett Centre, a psychiatric unit in Waikato Hospital in Hamilton, overnight.

"It appears to be natural causes but we are just awaiting the results of a post mortem," he said.

He said the man's death virtually put an abrupt end to the police criminal investigation.

The son, who was schizophrenic and lived with his mother, had been charged with a serious assault on his mother but would have faced more charges, Mr Murphy said.

"We will still be speaking to her to ascertain what happened but as far as a criminal inquiry goes, it is not going anywhere because our offender, who clearly had mental problems, is no more," Mr Murphy said.

He said it was another tragic blow for the family.

Yesterday doctors were reported to be fighting to save the sight of the woman.

The finger that was bitten off was never found.

After the attack, the son piled heavy furniture on top of her and she screamed for a day before she was found by another son on Sunday.

The son who attacked her was also in the house but did not resist when police turned up.

Neighbours said the mentally ill son was a time bomb waiting to go off.

Police visited the woman's address several times because of the son's activities but neighbours said the woman loved him and would not lay a complaint with police against him.

- NZPA