The mother of an inmate who assaulted a top Prison official and now faces a Magistrates' Court trial spoke out in defence of her son yesterday.

And she placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Prison officer because her son was denied anger management training.

Deputy Prison Commissioner Marvin Trott was assaulted by the prisoner at Westgate Correctional Facility in a one-off attack. The inmate is due to be charged with the offence.

The mother -- who asked to remain nameless -- said the incident did not have to happen.

"For the past three months I have been trying to get my son in an anger management programme,'' she said. "I have not had any success. I feel so helpless.

"If they had acted back in May or June then the whole situation could have been avoided. Why can they take him to court so fast but not do anything about his anger? "I spoke to Mr. Woolridge (Assistant Prison Commissioner Randall Woolridge) who said he had met with my son who told him that he did not want to do the programme.

"I met with my son, because I knew he wanted to get help, and he said he wanted to do the programme. He is crying out for help.'' Since the incident her son has been in segregation, she continued.

"This is the third time he's been in there. What are they waiting for?'' she asked.

"Last time he was taken out of segregation, Mr. Woolridge said he would put him on the programme. Now he's saying he didn't get around to it.'' She told The Royal Gazette that her 28-year-old son -- who she also declined to name -- had been in and out of jail for the past ten years.

"He was first incarcerated when he was 18 and I was abroad. Now he's 28 and he's never had any rehabilitation or counselling.

"He came out for a few months a while ago and they didn't even give him work release. They just threw him back out in the streets.

"I want him to get help so he can come out into society and be able to deal with it.'' Another excuse she was given, continued the mother, was that her son had not been in prison long enough to do the programme.

"But he is not out until May, 1998, this time,'' she said. "And after this latest incident he has to go back to Magistrates' Court which means it will probably be longer.

"They are not counselling him, they're just giving him more time.

"I believe that they should try and rehabilitate him. If they try and he comes out and gets into trouble then fine. But the prison officers have to do things. I am locked out on the outside so I can not get to him to help him.''