A woman allegedly targeted in a murder bid by her own son told police: “I thought he was going to kill me – he was hell-bent on it.”
The words of Thomasina McAskill, who died earlier this year before the case came to trial, were read to a jury at the High Court in Inverness by a police officer.
The evidence came on the third day of a trial, in which Bruce Davis, 53, denies attempting to murder his mother at her Smithton Villas home on New Year’s Day last year.
In her statement, the 78-year-old also told police: “I don’t want him near me again. I’ll never feel safe with him again – he has left me terrified.”
The charge alleges that Davis repeatedly kicked the pensioner on the body, seized her by the hair and placed his arms around her throat and restricted her breathing.
He is also accused of restraining her, throwing household furniture at her, pulling her jumper over her head, placing it around her throat and strangling her, restricting her breathing – as well as repeatedly punching her.
Davis also denies a second charge of threatening or abusive behaviour towards his mother on the same date.
Pensioner’s statement read in court
In evidence led by advocate depute Shahid Latif, Detective Constable Kate Finlayson read from a statement she had taken from Ms McAskill while the pensioner was being treated in the High Dependency Unit at Raigmore Hospital the day after the alleged attack.
In the signed statement Ms McAskill explained that her son was a daily visitor to her home, but on this occasion had been staying since Christmas Eve.
She said: “When Bruce is sober he helps me out around the house.”
But, the pensioner revealed that on this occasion her son had been drinking vodka.
She said: “Bruce was on the vodka. He drank a lot of vodka, I didn’t notice how much he was drinking.”
Ms McAskill, a wheelchair user, told the officer she couldn’t remember exactly what happened but said: “One minute I was sitting and the next Bruce had me on the floor, he was kicking me on the body.”
‘I thought he was going to kill me’
The pensioner also said: “I thought he was going to kill me, he was hell-bent on it.”
She said: “I kept thinking I’ve got to get out of here.”
Ms McAskill added that her son did not stop assaulting her until the police arrived.
In a later statement, the OAP told another detective constable, Claire Maclean, that after ripping her jumper off, Bruce pulled it around her neck and tightened it until she was struggling to breathe.
“I believe he was trying to strangle me with the jumper,” she said, adding: “I was absolutely terrified.”
The jury also heard from a forensic expert who explained that split seams and laddering on the jumper, along with DNA profiles from both Ms McAskill and Davis, were consistent with this version of events.
But under cross-examination from defence counsel Graeme Brown, the expert conceded that the damage to the jumper and DNA could also be explained by a scenario in which Davis repeatedly attempted to help his mother up following a fall to the floor.
The trial, before Lord Summers, continues.
