The trial of a Hamilton Parish man accused of assaulting his elderly mother and cousin got underway in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Vincent Patrick Smith denies three counts of assaulting the two seniors.

The court heard from Crown counsel Nicole Smith that on December 31, Smith allegedly hit his cousin, Wilbur Hill Outerbridge, who he refers to as 'Uncle' and verbally threatened and placed a knife to his mother, Grace Smith's throat.

The court heard from Mr. Outerbridge that on New Year's Eve, he was woken out of his sleep by Smith who hit him on the head with an unknown object and then dragged him from his bed.

"Vincent then gripped my arm, pulled off my shirt and dragged me out of bed into the living room," Mr. Outerbridge said. "He then went into the bathroom and got a cloth and started to wipe the blood off of me.

"Then he sat me down in a chair and said 'we have to talk'. He told me that I've been living in his house for two years and haven't paid him any rent.

"I said, 'no, I haven't been paying you any rent, I have been paying it to your mother.'

"He also questioned me about house keeping responsibilities and I told him that I have hired someone to help with that.

"He asked me who and I told him Freda Smith. He shouted, 'no, don't hire Freda cause she owes me $50,000'. He then started to throw things out into the yard. His mother came home and he started to shout and curse her. Later that evening I was taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) to be examined and to have my wounds dressed."

Defence lawyer Kenrick James asked Mr. Outerbridge whether he remembered Smith apologising for hitting him and saying that he had only hit him to wake him up.

"I woke up because he hit me," Mr. Outerbridge replied.

The court then heard from Smith's mother Grace that on the same day she arrived home to find the house in disarray.

She noticed a bruised Mr. Outerbridge sitting in a chair in the living room and Smith sitting next to him. She admitted that she was surprised to see her son in her house as he lives next door and hardly visits.

She told Mr. Outerbridge that she was going into the kitchen to make him some tea. Mrs. Smith told the court that she was frightened and wanted a way out of the room. She immediately ran out of the house to the neighbour's house to call the Police.

When she went back to the house she saw Smith coming toward her with a knife.

"I've killed my father and now it's your turn," Mrs. Smith said her son said to her. She said this was not true and that her son had a history of mental illness.

"I felt like the blood was draining out of me and I was scared," she said. "I wondered if he was serious or if it was like all of the other times when he came to me the next morning and said, 'I love you mother' as if nothing happened."

"We both heard a car come into the yard and Smith then went outside to see who it was. It was the Police."

Police took Smith into custody but later took him to the hospital. An attending physician at KEMH then referred Smith to Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute, however, the court has yet to receive the reports from MAWI.

Although her son had been removed, Mrs. Smith said she and Mr. Outerbridge were still shaken. "We were afraid to stay in the house after the incident for fear of our lives and were taken to the boarding house, Brightside, for a week," she said.

Asked by Mr. James if Smith threatening her and later apologising was a regular occurrence, Mrs. Smith said: "Yes, but I never took him serious until now." The trial is set to continue today before Magistrate Archibald Warner.