A senior told a court she asked Police to keep her son away from her after he attacked her during the throes of his heroin addiction.

Olga Howes, 77, watched at Magistrates' Court yesterday as her son Neville St. Clair Tucker, 49, was reprimanded by a magistrate over assaulting her and grabbing at her purse.

Crown Counsel Cindy Clarke said Tucker and Ms Howes had gone together to a meeting at the Turning Point addiction counselling service on July 3 last year.

Tucker became angry during the meeting about the plans set out by the counsellor, with attempts to calm him down failing. He later shouted and swore at his mother in Hamilton city when she refused to hand over $20 he asked for.

"While she was walking in the opposite direction, he pushed her from behind and grabbed for the purse she was carrying on her shoulder. This caused Ms Howes to fall to the ground, however she was prevented from falling to the ground by two male tourists passing by. During the struggle for the purse, Tucker broke off the shoulder straps. Ms Howes was able to grab her purse and was assisted by these tourists in getting away from Tucker," said Ms Clarke.

The incident was reported to the Police. Tucker, of Sugar Apple Lane, Pembroke, pleaded not guilty at yesterday's court appearance to the original charges he faced of assaulting his mother with intent to rob her. However, he changed his plea to guilty when Ms Clarke amended the charge to a less serious one of common assault and wilful damage to the purse.

Tucker, who was not represented by a lawyer, condemned the Turning Point programme as "not efficient" in helping him kick his heroin addiction, and said he was craving the drug when he committed the assault.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo told him: "You should feel ashamed."

Tucker replied that he had turned to God after the incident and managed to kick his drug addiction, adding: "I will never let that happen again. I'm very ashamed of what I did. I'm disgusted with the things I done during my heroin addiction."

He has been in custody since the incident. Mr. Tokunbo sentenced him to "time served" which means he was released immediately after his court appearance.

"Let's see what you do. I'm going to remember you," warned the Magistrate. Ms Howes then stepped forward to give Mr. Tokunbo a copy of a legal letter she had relating to her son. She said she had been helping him and that he had initially told her he was ill before finally admitting he had a serious drug problem.

She also revealed that Cabinet Minister Neletha Butterfield was the first person to witness the assault on her, and offered assistance which led to the Police contacting her.

Although Mr. Tokunbo did not give details of the letter Ms Howes handed to the court, he warned Tucker not to breach the order it contained, commenting: "That's pretty bad if a mother has to go to the Police and ask you to keep away from her."

Ms Howes declined to comment after the hearing.