A carpenter likened to "Jekyll and Hyde" left his 71-year-old mother terrified as he injured her arm and hurled abuse at her for hours. Sally Donnelly, who said her son Benjamin Donnelly is usually "nice and polite", fled to a neighbour's home to escape his latest attack on her.
Prosecutor Nuhu Gobir told Newport Crown Court that Ms Donnelly was at her home in Llanishen, Cardiff, with her son on the evening of October 14 when she questioned him about his use of cocaine and he became enraged. "The defendant started trying to pull his mother from her chair and grabbed her left forearm," said Mr Gobir.
The court heard Donnelly, 39, used such force that the skin on his mother's arm tore and she suffered an "ugly" injury. He repeatedly shouted at her: "Let's sort it out." She fell to the floor and when Donnelly saw the wound he said: "That's nothing."
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Mr Gobir continued: "She managed to sit back down on her chair and she turned away from the defendant. He was speaking to her and she ignored him. This annoyed him and he started kicking her chair. She managed to get out of the living room after several hours of him preventing her from doing so."
Ms Donnelly locked the Tegfan Close property's doors and went to a neighbour's house where she called the police. Her son used a window to get out of her home then tried to enter the neighbour's house. Shouting for his mother, he opened the door but the security chain was in place. As police neared he ran away.
Two officers attended at about 11pm and found Donnelly hiding in gardens near a block of flats. Mr Gobir told the court: "While he was being led to the police van he appeared to take a dislike to PC Patrick Rogers. He said: 'I'll batter you, p***y' and 'Look how bald and s*** he is' and 'I bet your missus is f***ing dead.'"
The prosecutor added: "The defendant was put in a cage in the van, and while he was having his handcuff moved, he lunged at PC Rogers in an attempt to assault him, causing him to fear immediate violence. While en-route to the station he behaved erratically, kicking the cage for the entire journey and issuing threats of violence to the officers with him."
The court heard that Donnelly threatened to rape a female officer as soon as they got out of the van. He also said he wished the officers' mothers would "die of cancer". Later, in his police interview, he claimed that his Coca Cola had been spiked in a pub after he left work and that the last thing he remembered was getting a bus home.
Donnelly, of Gabalfa Avenue, pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm (ABH) to his mother and assault of a police officer. He has 76 previous offences on his record including 16 of violence and another assault on his mother. At the time of his latest attack he was living with her after he became homeless and she took him in. She had been taking thinning tablets for a blood condition.
Jeffrey Jones, mitigating, said his client considered his own behaviour "disgusting". He argued that Donnelly may have ingested a substance involuntarily through spiking and that police had not tested him for any drug at the station.
Ms Donnelly, who withdrew support for the prosecution, had described her son as "a nice and polite individual" when free from substances. The self-employed carpenter has been in prison since the attack and has "ploughed himself into" courses in substance awareness, victim awareness and managing aggression, said Mr Jones. The court also heard there was no injury to PC Rogers.
As Judge Richard Williams prepared to pass sentence, Donnelly said: "I'm so sorry about this." The judge thanked him then said: "Despite your previous appalling behaviour towards your mother, she provided what was supposed to be temporary accommodation for you because you became homeless.
"It's clear you become bad-tempered, violent and abusive towards your mother and others when under the influence of drugs or alcohol. You have a history of breaching restraining orders made to protect your mother."
Judge Williams told Donnelly there is "something of Jekyll and Hyde about you" when using substances. He noted that the defendant had recently cut off a court-ordered alcohol abstinence tag. Although the judge took into account the recent courses in prison, he said: "The acid test is what you do when not in prison, and there is too much of Mr Hyde about you."
The judge said Donnelly would be sentenced as a "dangerous offender" to an extended term of four years in jail and a year on licence. He must serve two thirds of his custodial term before he can be considered for parole. You can read more of the latest Welsh court news here.
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