poledriver
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'It would probably have been better if I'd died': The smashed skull of a grandmother, 77, bashed repeatedly with a hammer by a meth addict who then raped her in her own home... and he could be out in 10 years
A deranged ice addict who sexually assaulted and bashed in a grandmother's skull with a hammer could walk free from prison in less than 10 years.
Christopher Coombs was sentenced to a maximum 14 years jail including time for four unrelated assault and larceny charges.
The 40-year-old is eligible for parole in nine years and four months for the attack that left the Wollongong pensioner, 77, wishing she had died.
Her son said it was a miracle she survived the horrific injuries as he stood dismayed outside Parramatta District Court on Thursday following sentencing.
'She's going to be in and out of hospital for the rest of her life. She has said, "It probably would have been better if I'd died",' he told the Illawarra Mercury.
'She was a lovely lady and now she's a shell. I'll put a tea cup down and she'll jump. She's been robbed of her life.'
The son said the sentence did not reflect the devastating effect the attack on July 6 last year had on his mother.
Judge Penelope Wass said the sentence length was intended to be 'not crushing in all the circumstances' so as not to 'destroy any prospects of rehabilitation'.
Coombs knew his victim lived in the ground floor unit near him from the sole conversation they had eight months before he broke in at 3.30am through a balcony door left ajar for her cat.
He attempted to rape her before carrying out another sexual assault while she resisted.
Then he put a tie around her neck, forced her to the floor and repeatedly bashed her head with the hammer.
Neighbours found her in a pool of blood with her skull caved in, a shattered cheekbone, broken jaw and nerve damage in her eyelid.
The court heard Coombs barely remembered the attack because he had gone off his medication and was high on ice at the time.
Psychological reports detailed his history of drug use, depression, narcissistic personality disorder and bi-polar disorder.
He pleaded guilty, shaving off 25 per cent off his sentence, and convinced the judge he was remorseful and had a shot at rehabilitation.
Judge Wass also accepted Coombs was carrying the hammer for protection against 'real and imagined enemies', after his own skull was broken in a 2009 assault that had caused him to develop PTSD.
The victim's son lashed out at the judgement that Coombs did not intend to use the hammer on his mother when he broke in.
'How can [the court] accept [Coombs] carried a hammer to protect himself? How can that be OK? It's not as if it's a random attack. He knew there was a vulnerable old lady in there,' he said.
Judge Wass rejected defence claims Coombs hit the woman because he feared she would bite his penis, because he already had her restrained.
He was initially charged with attempted murder but this was dropped in plea negotiations.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ed-hammer-brutal-rape-home.html#ixzz4SPVsRFGS
A deranged ice addict who sexually assaulted and bashed in a grandmother's skull with a hammer could walk free from prison in less than 10 years.
Christopher Coombs was sentenced to a maximum 14 years jail including time for four unrelated assault and larceny charges.
The 40-year-old is eligible for parole in nine years and four months for the attack that left the Wollongong pensioner, 77, wishing she had died.
Her son said it was a miracle she survived the horrific injuries as he stood dismayed outside Parramatta District Court on Thursday following sentencing.
'She's going to be in and out of hospital for the rest of her life. She has said, "It probably would have been better if I'd died",' he told the Illawarra Mercury.
'She was a lovely lady and now she's a shell. I'll put a tea cup down and she'll jump. She's been robbed of her life.'
The son said the sentence did not reflect the devastating effect the attack on July 6 last year had on his mother.
Judge Penelope Wass said the sentence length was intended to be 'not crushing in all the circumstances' so as not to 'destroy any prospects of rehabilitation'.
Coombs knew his victim lived in the ground floor unit near him from the sole conversation they had eight months before he broke in at 3.30am through a balcony door left ajar for her cat.
He attempted to rape her before carrying out another sexual assault while she resisted.
Then he put a tie around her neck, forced her to the floor and repeatedly bashed her head with the hammer.
Neighbours found her in a pool of blood with her skull caved in, a shattered cheekbone, broken jaw and nerve damage in her eyelid.
The court heard Coombs barely remembered the attack because he had gone off his medication and was high on ice at the time.
Psychological reports detailed his history of drug use, depression, narcissistic personality disorder and bi-polar disorder.
He pleaded guilty, shaving off 25 per cent off his sentence, and convinced the judge he was remorseful and had a shot at rehabilitation.
Judge Wass also accepted Coombs was carrying the hammer for protection against 'real and imagined enemies', after his own skull was broken in a 2009 assault that had caused him to develop PTSD.
The victim's son lashed out at the judgement that Coombs did not intend to use the hammer on his mother when he broke in.
'How can [the court] accept [Coombs] carried a hammer to protect himself? How can that be OK? It's not as if it's a random attack. He knew there was a vulnerable old lady in there,' he said.
Judge Wass rejected defence claims Coombs hit the woman because he feared she would bite his penis, because he already had her restrained.
He was initially charged with attempted murder but this was dropped in plea negotiations.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ed-hammer-brutal-rape-home.html#ixzz4SPVsRFGS
