Warning: This article details alleged incidents of domestic violence.
A woman has described the severe beating her husband inflicted on her hours before he was fatally stabbed by their son.
The woman's son is on trial in Auckland's High Court over the alleged murder of his father in south Auckland last year.
The identities of all family members and other details are suppressed.
The son's mother broke down in court as she detailed how her husband viciously bashed her hours before he was stabbed by their son
“Wwhen I fell down to try and cover myself, he just started booting me in the ribs and the head and wherever he could. Then he grabs my hair and drags me around the floor,” she said.
The woman's son is accused of murdering his father in a south Auckland home last year.
His lawyers say he acted in self-defence to protect himself and his family from an abusive father.
The young man's mother says her son and his siblings were shocked when she arrived at his house after the beating.
"They just broke down crying when they saw my face - they were just so hurt, they hadn't seen me like that before. I got a good hiding that day."
Later that night, the woman and her children, including the defendant, hid inside a locked house to protect them from the father who she says was enraged and high on meth.
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She says her son walked outside carrying a knife once they believed the father had left the property.
The mother then heard a struggle outside. She says she didn't see the stabbing but saw her husband over-powering their son, and when she tried to pull her husband away, she noticed blood.
“I ran back over and by then [my son] was already cradling his father. I just remember my son with his father in his arms and he was just saying, ‘I'm sorry Dad, look what you made me do, look what you made me do.’"
She says her and her five children suffered abuse for much of her 24-year marriage.
Proseuctors say the son had murderous intent and his response was in no way reasonable in proportion to the threat posed by the father.
The trial is set down for three weeks.
Newshub.
