A Perth man twice battered his elderly mum, including kicking her in the face, smashing a plant pot over her head and plunging a mug into her face.

Rory Mowatt, 44, carried out one assault, apologised, then returned to unleash another sustained assault on the pensioner, whose injuries were not discovered until days later.

Mowatt was already on bail after arriving at Perth Royal Infirmary and making needle threats to staff.

He was jailed by a sheriff who said his mental health difficulties were no defence for his crimes because of his substance abuse.

Attacks on mum

Perth Sheriff Court heard Mowatt went to his mother’s Letham flat on November 8 2022, where the 74-year-old lives alone.

He switched on loud music, then knocked over a box of pennies.

Mowatt demanded the pensioner pick them up and when she bent over, he kicked her in the face while wearing a pair of work boots.

He followed her to the living room and struck her on the head with a wooden clothes hanger, cutting it and causing it to bleed profusely.

He began pacing through the house and switched off the power at the electricity box,  before knocking over and breaking the TV.

He ordered his mum to bed and stormed out of the flat.

The next day, he repeatedly apologised to her over the phone.

But on November 10, he returned to the flat and again switched on loud music.

He ordered his mum to watch TV with him in a bedroom after apologising for breaking the one in the living room.

He left to make a cup of tea but when he returned, laughing Mowatt began to punch and kick his mother on the face and body.

He told her to lie on the bed facing the wall, which she did out of fear, then struck her on the head with a plant pot repeatedly until it broke.

He continued punching and kicking her for around 10 minutes, then struck her in the face with a mug, causing a large, bleeding cut.

He told his mother to wash her face and held a shower head over her, then asked for help to find his keys and left.

Fractured jaw

Mowatt’s mother chose not to report the incidents due to fear of upsetting family and the next day, he apologised again.

Two days after that, the woman’s daughter found out about the injuries and took her to PRI for stitches, at which point, the pensioner disclosed the assault.

She had a fractured jaw and bruising from her eye to her jaw, on her back and from her hip to her knee.

The woman’s daughter received a phone call from Mowatt, who told her: “I’m sorry, I had to do that. It needed to be done.”

Police searched his home and found multiple blood-spattered items and he was still wearing the blood-stained yellow boots from his first visit.

Stab threat

Mowatt, of Maxton Place, Perth, was on bail at the time for turning up at PRI with a knife.

Suffering schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, he attends at the Cairnwell community mental health centre for a monthly injection.

At 9.15am on May 26 2022, he arrived and said: “I’ve got a needle and the next person that comes near me, I’m going to stab them.”

He was told to wait outside and when a nurse came to explain he would not be seen, he stormed into the building.

Staff called 999 as he drank from a bottle of whisky while in possession of a knife, of which he told police: “It’s for protection, I use it to clean my fingernails.”

Admissions

Mowatt admitted carrying a knife and acting in a threatening or abusive manner at PRI and both assaults on his mother.

Solicitor Paul Ralph said: “Hopefully the passage of time and the moderation of his behaviour – and the compliance with a compulsory treatment order – allows the court just to stop short of sending him to custody.”

But Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC jailed Mowatt for 38 months – 27 for the attacks on his mother – who she said was not more seriously injured “by luck, not design.”

She also made a 12-month supervised release order “to protect the public from serious harm”.

The sheriff said: “You perpetrated significant violence upon your own mother when she was 74… on consecutive days.

“You did this in your mother’s home, which must have made her fear for her life.

“I do have to bear in mind there is no psychiatric defence available to you.

“The terms of the psychiatric reports and criminal justice social work report indicate your mental health difficulties are exacerbated by substance misuse.

“The only appropriate way to deal with you is by imposition of a custodial sentence.”

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