A man who tried to murder his mother in an alcohol-fueled attack on New Year’s Day has been sentenced to ten years in prison.

Bruce Davis, 53, tried to strangle his mother, who was in a wheelchair, with her jumper, kicked her in the body and threw furniture at her during the attack in Inverness.

After surviving the assault, the 78-year-old said: “I thought he was going to kill me. He seemed hell-bent on it.”

Davis had previously denied attempted murder but was found guilty of the offense following a trial at Inverness High Court.

During the attack, the victim, who has since died, received repeated kicks to the body from her son, who grabbed her by the hair and put his arms around her throat, preventing her from breathing.

He also threw furniture at her, pulled her sweater over her head, put it around her neck and strangled her.

After the woman’s death, statements made following the attempted murder were used as evidence at Davis’ trial.

In one, she said: “I thought he was trying to strangle me. “I was terrified.”

Concerned neighbors called police to their home in Smithton Villas, Inverness, and two officers saw Davis through a window of the house with an arm around his mother’s neck.

His hands were still stained with blood when he went 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 assaulted you.”

His mother responded: “And rightly so, because that’s how it is.”

A paramedic who was called to the scene said the victim told him that “her son had lost control and attacked her.”

In a statement given to police at the hospital after the attempted murder, she said her son was drinking vodka before he got up, threw her to the floor and began kicking and hitting her with a broken table leg.

She said: “He had never assaulted me before. I couldn’t get away from him. I don’t want him near me again. “I’m afraid of him.”

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

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

Defense lawyer Graeme Brown said Davis raised four children, but when they began to leave, he felt redundant. Their situation worsened with the outbreak of the Covid pandemic.

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

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

A judge told Davis at the High Court in Edinburgh: “Your mother was a disabled elderly woman. You inflicted serious injuries on him.”

Lord Summers said: “In passing sentence I am forced to take into account the fact that the victim of this assault was his own mother.”

Brown told the court that a custodial sentence imposed on Davis when he was a teenager was listed as a conviction for attempted murder, but Davis believed that was wrong, even though it was an assault.

Davis followed the sentencing process via video link to prison and was told his prison sentence would be backdated to January last year, when he was first arrested.

Follow STV News on WhatsApp

Scan the QR code on your mobile device to get the latest news from around the country.