A young man has been released from prison after assaulting his mother by throwing furniture at her in Carterton.

Samuel Whitmore, 21, was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Friday (January 17) for one count each of common assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He denied the offences but was found guilty after a trial in November last year.

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Judge Nigel Daly handed Whitmore a community order because he deemed the time has already spent in custody as ‘sufficient punishment’.

During sentencing, prosecutor Leigh Hart explained that Whitmore, on April 13, he was ‘ejected’ from a party after ‘behaving in an aggressive manner’.

He became ‘verbally and physically abusive’ towards a woman he attended the party with and pushed her to the ground.

She left Whitmore alone but then attended his home address later than evening where she found his mother at the bottom of the stairs covered in furniture.

“The jury convicted this defendant of assaulting his mother by throwing furniture at her,” said Ms Hart.

No victim impact statement was provided by either woman. However, during the trial Whitmore’s mother said she wants to ‘protect him but there is only so much she can do’.

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“He’s not a child anymore and he needs to accept the consequences of his behaviour.”

No restraining order was requested from either victim.

The court that the defendant does have previous convictions including an assault on his mother where he through a clock at her face.

The incident took place in October 2019 when Whitmore was still a youth.

Defending Whitmore, barrister Bethan Chichester told the court: “He likely suffers from Asperger’s or high functioning autism or ADHD.”

“He has a difficult relationship with his mother,” she added. She explained that, though no charges had been filed, there were suggestions he had been a ‘victim’ of his mother in the past.

Whitmore had been in custody for eight months prior to his sentencing which is the equivalent of a 16-month sentence.

Judge Daly said: “That’s sufficient punishment in my view.”

Whitmore, formerly of Heather Close, Carterton, was handed an 18-month community order and was ordered to complete six months of alcohol abstinence.

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He will also need to complete 26 programme sessions and five rehabilitation activity days.

Whitmore was warned if he breached any of the requirements he would appear back in court.

“If it [was] a very serious breach you could find yourself brought back to court and the community order rescinded and you get a custodial sentence,” warned Judge Daly.

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