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A petrified mother-of-four has revealed years of torment at the hands of her son - now in jail for repeatedly breaching a protection order.
A judge this week sentenced Jacob Olsen, 18, to six months behind bars, saying he had made his mother's life an "absolute misery".
Kristine Williams said her son had several times threatened to kill her and burn her house down, and had been in trouble over drugs and violence.
"I have been wary of Jacob from when he was quite young," Williams, an early childhood caregiver from Mt Maunganui, told the Herald on Sunday.
"He would be extremely volatile, very physical. He would throw things at me, he would stand over people. That was one of the reasons we wanted to send his youngest brother to Dilworth [School in Auckland], so he could experience a normal life away from Jacob."
She said her son had displayed violent emotions since preschool, and he was eventually diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and then Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
"Right from a young age, he would break windows, punch his fist at the walls, throw chairs around."
Williams said she was "just plain frightened" of her son.
Ever since her son was a young boy, she had called in paediatricians, support groups, CYF and, latterly, the police - all to no avail.
Olsen had spent time in jail last year and, on his release, moved to the house next door to his mother's.
She took out a protection order against him after further threats. "He is just right in your face. I mean he hasn't physically [hit me] over the last year because he knows better.
"He's right in your face and yells out 'You'll be dead. I will burn your house down with you in it'. Or he'll threaten to wreck my car."
The Tauranga District Court was told last week that Olsen turned up at his mother's house about 2.30am last November 14 and continually yelled abuse at her. He was furious when she telephoned the police.
According to an NZPA report, officers said he grabbed pillows off the couch and threw them around the room, then stood close to his mother shouting and trying to intimidate her.
On January 9, he left a voice message threatening to burn down her house if he had to return to prison.
The next evening he was waiting at Williams' house, and asked for a ride to Papamoa. She refused, locked herself in her house, and called police when her son wouldn't leave.
Judge Thomas Ingram sentenced him to a total of six months behind bars.
"You still haven't got your head on straight," said the judge. "I don't think you have any sense of responsibility at all."
He said Olsen, of Mt Maunganui, had a "bad list" of serious convictions, including drug offences, assault, threatening to kill, carrying a firearm, trespass and shoplifting.
"You are a young man who is simply unable to grasp the realities of life. You don't do anything you are told," Ingram said. "Nothing other than a prison sentence will be appropriate."
Williams said she felt terrible, helpless and an "emotional wreck".
"It's like you think, 'what more can I do?' What could I have done? I went to all the ADD meetings, we had Barnardos come in and do family group time with all of the boys, we have had psychologists.
"And at CYF, because he has moved around so much, he has never learned to make connections with people. You are just shunted around."
Williams, who is divorced from Olsen's father, said she still loved her son "but I don't like what he does. I can't accept the behaviour and the violence and the stress that he causes."
She said her son was now at rock bottom. "He needs to think about what he's done and the consequences of his actions. It's always my fault and never his."
