Son charged with eye-gouging attack on mother dies

March 30, 2006

A mentally ill New Zealand man who had been accused this week of biting off his elderly mother's finger and gouging her eyes has been found dead. The 41-year-old man died in a mental health unit in Hamilton overnight apparently from natural causes, police said.

He was accused of having attacked his 73-year old mother by biting off a finger and gouging her eyes. It is certain that she will become blind in at least one eye. The man, 41, was due to appear in Rotorua District Court earlier this week but was not considered to be mentally stable. He has been diagnosed schizophrenic before.