A Hove woman has been spared prison after admitting throwing wine over her sick mother and assaulting her as she lay in bed during a row.
Zakiya Salim, 53, had been caring for her 77-year-old mother Hazel after she suggested she move from Lancashire to her flat in Furze Hill in 2017.
But by September 2019, she had become frustrated with the burden of looking after her mother, who had chronic kidney disease and needed dialysis at hospital three times a week, as well as help with day to day activities.
Prosecuting at Hove Crown Court today, Tim Sleigh-Johnson said Salim returned home one day at 9pm to find her mother in bed.
He said: “She went to her mother’s bedroom and was carrying a glass of wine which she put on the bedside table.
“She began verbally abusing her, saying my life is s*** because of you and you are always here. She then assaulted her.
“The defendant accepts that she, during a heated argument, grabbed her mother’s upper arm, causing bruising.
“She took hold of her mother’s face and turned it towards her own in order to make her look at her.
“She accepts throwing the contents of the glass of wine on her mother.”
Salim’s mother passed away last year, but a victim impact statement she made at the time was read out in court.
It said: “I’m still very upset about it all. She can’t keep on treating people the way she is treating me.
“She said many hurtful things to me, like why don’t you just die?
“She asks her friends, have you met my mother, she’s a bit senile.”
Salim pleaded guilty to the assault, but denied another charge of having abused her position of trust to gain £108 shortly before the assault. The prosecution applied to let the second charge lie on file, which was granted.
Defending, Sarah Thorne said the assault happened after a “protracted history”, adding: “The situation of looking after her mother was too much for her to deal with.”
Sentencing, Judge Jeremy Gold QC said he had some sympathy with Salim’s situation.
He said: “There’s of course a duty on every son or daughter to deal sympathetically and appropriately with an aged parent, however demanding they may be and I don’t doubt for a moment that the lady in question was demanding of your time, and efforts in helping to care for her.
“Having said that, she was vulnerable and the court has a duty to impose sentences that show the vulnerable have the protection of the court.”
He gave her a four month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered her to undertake rehabilitation and pay costs of £500.
