Inverness man jailed for 10 years after trying to kill his own mother

A man who tried to kill his elderly wheelchair-bound mother in a drink-fuelled attack on New Year’s Day has been jailed for 10 years.

During the assault, Bruce Davis (53) tried to strangle Thomasina McAskill, nickname Chrissy, with her own jumper in her own home.

After surviving the attack, the 78-year-old said: ‘I thought he was going to kill me. He seemed determined to do it.”

• An Inverness man ‘deliberately endangered’ his mother’s life, Police Scotland says

A judge told Davis at the High Court in Edinburgh: ‘Your mother was an elderly woman who was wheelchair-bound. You caused her serious harm.’

Lord Summers said: ‘In passing sentence I am forced to take into account the fact that the victim of this attack was your own mother.’

The judge pointed out that David was living with the victim at her home in Inverness at the time of the murder bid on January 1 last year.

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Davis had previously denied attempted murder but was convicted of the crime following a trial at the High Court in Inverness.

During the assault, the now deceased victim was repeatedly kicked in the body by her son, who grabbed her hair and obstructed her breathing. He also threw furniture at her.

Following Ms McAskill’s death, statements made in response to the murder bid were used as evidence at Davis’ trial. In one she said: “I believed he was trying to strangle me. I was terrified.”

Police were called to her home in Smithton Villas, Inverness, by concerned neighbors and two officers saw Davis through a window of the house with an arm around his mother’s neck.

He still had blood on his hands when he tried to let them in and his mother told them “he hit me” and pointed at her son.

Davis shouted, “Someone called the police because they think I attacked you.” His mother replied, “And rightly so, because you did.”

A paramedic called to the scene said the victim told her that “her son had lost it and attacked her.”

In a statement to police at the hospital after the murder attempt, she said her son drank vodka before getting up, throwing her to the floor and starting to kick and hit her with a broken table leg.

She said: “He’s never attacked me before. I couldn’t get away from him. I don’t want him near me anymore. I’m terrified of him.”

Davis claimed he fell on top of his mother, saying, “I would never intentionally hurt my mother.”

The victim was left bleeding and bruised after the attack and suffered fractures to her jaw, leg and ribs.

Defense barrister Graeme Brown said Davis raised four children, but when they started leaving he felt redundant. His position deteriorated with the outbreak of the Covid pandemic.

Mr Brown said: “He drank up to a bottle of vodka a day and that became his life at that point.”

He added: “Hopefully he will be in a better position when he is eventually released.”

Mr Brown told the court that a prison sentence imposed on Davis as a teenager was listed as a conviction for attempted murder, but Davis believed this was wrong even though it involved assault.

Davis attended the sentencing proceedings via video link to prison and was told his prison sentence will be backdated to January last year when he was first taken into custody.

View our fact sheet on court reporting here