Man’s punch to mother-in-law’s head ‘dislodged her brain’, court hears

A MAN’S punch to his mother-in-law’s head ‘dislodged her brain’, a court has heard

A man’s punch to his mother-in-law’s head dislodged her brain, a court has heard

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IF LEFT without medical treatment a 43-year-old woman could have died from a brain injury sustained after her son-in-law punched her in the head, a court has heard.

Darryl Loo, 27, was found guilty by a jury in the Supreme Court of negligently causing serious harm to his mother-in-law.

The court heard on March 16, 2018, Loo and his mother-in-law were drinking at a house in East Side while his heavily-pregnant wife waited in the car.

Later, Loo and his mother-in-law got back into the car at which time Loo was drunk and she was very drunk.

Loo’s wife then drove off before pulling over in an attempt to calm down her mother who was yelling at her for more alcohol.

Both women got out of the car and argued on the pavement before the mother pushed her pregnant daughter to the ground.

“When you saw (your wife) being pushed to the ground by (her mother), you became angry,” Justice Graham Hiley said.

“You approached (her mother) and you punched her at least once, forcefully, to the upper left side of her face.

“The punch was such that she was knocked to the ground. She ended up suffering two fractures to the left side of her cheek and also a subdural haematoma.”

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Justice Hiley said the following morning Loo’s mother-in-law woke up with an intense headache and could not walk properly.

After being transferred from the Alice Springs Hospital to the Neurosurgical Department of the Royal Adelaide Hospital, doctors “described her brain as having been pushed or dislodged from its normal place in her skull”.

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“Unless she had had medical treatment, she could have died from her brain injury. Well, if she did not die, she would have suffered a longstanding and significant injury,” Justice Hiley said.

The court heard the woman made a fairly good recovery.

The court heard he had not consumed alcohol or committed any further offences since March 2018.

He was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended after six weeks.