‘Loss of vision and flashing lights’: Hobart man squeezed mother’s throat after perceived threats
It was an attack that left a woman unable to breathe and “seeing flashing lights”. A Hobart man has pleaded guilty to squeezing his own mother’s throat after a family argument.
Police & Courts
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A MAN has pleaded guilty to assault after squeezing his mother’s throat until she complained she “could not breathe and reported loss of vision and seeing flashing lights”.
On Thursday, 26-year-old Christian William Edwards appeared in the Supreme Court of Tasmania before Justice Gregory Geason.
A crown prosecutor explained that in October 2021, Edwards lived with his partner and their baby son – with Edwards’ mother texting and asking to see her grandson.
The texting became heated, with Edwards’ mother leaving a voicemail to his partner saying: “why don’t you answer the phone, you gutless bitch?”
Edwards and his mother then spoke, with the woman telling her son: “you can get f … ed”.
After further antagonism, Edwards arrived at his mother’s Bridgewater home and yelled “don’t threaten my family, don’t threaten my f … ing family” before putting his hands around his mother’s neck and throwing her onto the couch.
“The complainant could not breathe and reported loss of vision and seeing flashing lights,” the prosecutor said.
After he left, the woman called her husband and said her son had tried to kill her.
She was taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital that night as she was having difficulty swallowing, but scans revealed no internal damage.
A defence lawyer noted the Crown had accused Edwards of squeezing his mother’s throat, not choking her.
He said Edwards’ mother had told his son, “put that gutless c … on the phone” and “I will catch up with that gutless bitch”.
“The accused, rightly or wrongly, took that as a threat,” he said.
He said after Edwards left, he rang his mother to apologise, but the call was answered by police.
He also noted that Edwards agreed immediately to going to the police station for an interview.
“I’m instructed the accused regretted what he’d done.”
Edwards, who is on bail, will return to court on December 1.
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