AFTER his mother attacked him, Sam Du Feu retaliated by stabbing her 14 times.

Du Feu, 23, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison after he inflicted potentially life-threatening injuries to his mother.

A Royal Court sentencing hearing heard that it was a case of excessive self-defence being used by the defendant, who admitted a charge of unlawfully and maliciously wounding Karen Haines with intent to cause her grievous bodily harm. It was fully accepted by the prosecution that the defendant’s mother had attacked him in after he returned from a night out in the early hours of Monday 23 January last year. Both had been drinking strong alcohol.

Judge Russell Finch said the facts of the case reflected no credit on anybody but the circumstances were exceptional. ‘It does not need to be emphasised just how close this was to a fatal incident based on this evidence,’ he said.