Son, 31, who stabbed his ‘cruel’ and abusive car salesman father, 52, to death is jailed for ten years for manslaughter after weeping in the dock as he was cleared of murder
- Sean Maurice stabbed his father Paul a total of 33 times during 2021 attack
- A jury cleared him of murder after hearing his father had abused him as a child
A son who stabbed his ‘cruel’ father to death while high on crack cocaine following years of alleged sexual and physical abuse has been jailed for 10 years for manslaughter – after being cleared by a jury of murder.
Sean Maurice, 31, plunged a knife into the back and chest of his car salesman father Paul Maurice a total of 33 times during a frenzied attack at the family home in Bromley, southeast London on September 14, 2021.
Sean, a father-of-one, fled the scene across the back gardens of adjacent properties and climbed onto a shed roof, leading to a stand-off with police which ultimately ended in his arrest.
Mr Maurice, 52, branded a ‘dreadful father’ by a judge today, told neighbours he did not want to die as he collapsed bleeding on their doorstep, the court heard.
In police bodycam footage Sean told officers: ‘I’ve got nothing to lose… you lot are trying to arrest me because I beat up my dad who abused me, he raped me… and you want to arrest me? What kind of f*****g justice is that?’
Sean Maurice, 31, plunged a knife into the back and chest of Paul Maurice (pictured) 30 times, before fleeing across gardens and climbing onto a shed roof, leading to a stand-off with police which ultimately ended in his arrest
Sean admitted manslaughter but was cleared of murder by the Old Bailey jury in central London after 13 hours and 11 minutes of deliberation.
Wearing a white shirt and tie, he collapsed and sobbed with relief as the verdict was delivered.
Later sentencing him to 10 years in prison, Judge Dennis Watson, KC, said: ‘During the trial you spoke of your father’s violence and his physical abuse of you.
‘Your sister and brother spoke of similar abuse at his hands and on the evidence I have heard I accept that your experiences were the worst. I also accept that this abuse has caused you lasting damage.
‘Your personal situation became unstable, and you used alcohol and drugs as a way of dealing with problems and stress and this must have contributed to your erratic behaviour and deteriorating mental health.’
Mr Watson said Sean was detained under the Mental Health Act in July 2021 before spending a brief period of time living at his father’s home. A three-week stay at a rehab facility followed but he soon relapsed, the court was told.
The judge continued: ‘On 6 September you became upset when your father refused to allow you to stay in his house. On 14 September you relapsed again, took some alcohol and crack, and fell out with the family at your temporary home.
‘They rang or messaged begging you to come back. You replied ”I’ll cut somebody a bleeding river.”
‘You walked to your father’s home. Within 10 minutes you left taking his phone, car key and bank cards. You had left him for dead having stabbed him 33 times.
EXCLUSIVE: Horrified parents reveal how ‘creepy’ killer Afghan asylum seeker chatted up teenage girls at his secondary school while posing as a 14-year-old boy when he was really 19
The custody picture of Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai, 21, following his conviction for murder this week
‘I’m satisfied you didn’t intend to get any help for him at all and knew exactly what you had done, and you told your sister as much when you rang her.
‘You threatened violence to a taxi driver, and were wound up and aggressive when police tried to arrest you at half past three the following morning.’
Sean claimed he had grabbed the knife off his father’s kitchen counter, but the judge found that he had taken it with him to the scene.
He said: ‘You took a knife to the scene. Your anger was clear as you set off from home. Your sister explained her shock and mixed feelings toward her father. She made the point she no longer has the choice to go to police about what he did.
‘He had other children as well as you and your siblings and they too have lost a father.’
Andrew Frymann, defending, said Sean was sorry for what he did.
He added: ‘Sean Maurice bore the brunt of his father’s mistreatment and took on a lot of the mistreatment to protect his siblings. He also looked after them, causing him to be unable to attend any further education.’
He said Sean was planning to undertake a Sociology degree while in prison and was having weekly video chats with his young daughter.
The court had earlier heard Paul had abused his children and Sean was kicked out of the house at the behest of his father’s younger girlfriends.
On the night of the killing, the court heard how neighbours Sharon and Mark Ovenell were getting ready to go to bed when their evening was disturbed by a frantic ringing at their front doorbell.
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones, KC, said: ‘Mr Ovenell opened the door, he had the chain on, and he looked out and what he saw you may think will stay with him for the rest of his life.
‘There on his doorstep was his next-door neighbour, a man he knew as Paul. In fact his name was Paul Maurice.
‘Paul was slumped over on the Ovenells’ doorstep, he was shirtless; and he was covered in blood.
‘He was saying he was finding it hard to breathe, and that he did not want to die.
‘Mr Ovenell asked him what had happened. Paul said that his son had attacked him with a knife.
‘He had visible wounds – that is to say Mr Ovenell could see wounds – to his back and chest. In fact he had been stabbed about 30 times.
‘Mrs Ovenell called 999 and the police and London Ambulance Service attended within a few minutes.’
Killer son vowed ‘I’ll cut somebody a bleeding river’ on day he fatally stabbed his ‘abusive’ father 33 times in the back and chest, court hears
Sean Maurice, 31, plunged a knife into the back and chest of his car salesman father Paul Maurice a total of 33 times during a frenzied attack at the family home in Bromley, southeast London on September 14, 2021.
Sentencing him to 10 years for manslaughter on Wednesday, Judge Dennis Watson, KC, said: ‘During the trial you spoke of your father’s violence and his physical abuse of you.
‘Your sister and brother spoke of similar abuse at his hands and on the evidence I have heard I accept that your experiences were the worst.
‘I also accept that this abuse has caused you lasting damage.
‘Your personal situation became unstable, and you used alcohol and drugs as a way of dealing with problems and stress and this must have contributed to your erratic behaviour and deteriorating mental health.’
Mr Watson said Sean was detained under the Mental Health Act in July 2021 before spending a brief period of time living at his father’s home.
A three-week stay at a rehab facility followed but he soon relapsed, the court was told.
The judge continued: ‘On 6 September you became upset when your father refused to allow you to stay in his house. On 14 September you relapsed again, took some alcohol and crack, and fell out with the family at your temporary home.
‘They rang or messaged begging you to come back. You replied ”I’ll cut somebody a bleeding river.”
‘You walked to your father’s home. Within 10 minutes you left taking his phone, car key and bank cards. You had left him for dead having stabbed him 33 times.’
Paul was pronounced dead on the street at 11.56pm.
‘Sean ended up on the roof of a garden shed where he was surrounded by police after something of a stand-off that took half an hour before eventually being detained and arrested,’ said Jones.
Jurors heard Sean Maurice was four when his mother died and he was neglected as a child.
‘Their upbringing was severely complicated by their father’s relationships with other women after their mother’s death, and it seems that the three siblings were not well looked after and were neglected.
‘The defendant left home as a teenager, but it seems that that nature of his childhood had taken its toll on him.’
Sean told the court he went to his father’s house because he wanted to confront him about decades of abuse he inflicted on him and his two sisters.
He said: ‘I wanted him to recognise me as a man, I wanted to talk about what he’d done and for him to acknowledge it for once.
‘I said listen we need to talk about what happened, and he gave a confused look.
‘I said ‘you know what I’m talking about,’ and said something that was undeniably about what happened when we were very young.
‘His response was the same as all the time, that horrible face. He said ‘who do you think you’re talking to, who do you think you are,’ something like that.
‘He went for me, physical aggression, he made contact with me by force. He threw the first punch.
‘I felt panic just terror, the same as any other time. He was stronger. But it wouldn’t matter if I was 17 stone, when you’ve been conditioned since your first memories to be petrified of this man.
‘I could have been 20 stone and a martial arts expert but when he smiles and does that horrible face with his teeth I’m a four-year-old boy cowering in the corner.’
He said the fight moved into the kitchen and the knife was on the worktop or in the sink.
‘I can’t tell you in that split second what was in my mind, I know that I was so angry.
‘I stabbed him a fair few times. I wanted at the very least he recognise me as a man, because confidence and being manly is something that I’d never had.
‘I was having a scupper with the man who’s terrorised me my whole life, taken everything away from me that I managed to get on my own.’
Sean said that his father treated him as a ‘housewife’ growing up and expected him to perform household chores and look after his siblings.
‘I couldn’t get a job because I was a housewife. From age 14 to 16 I was looking after my siblings,’ he said.
He said he wanted to go to college but his father wouldn’t support him financially.
He said: ‘Dad did quite well financially by that point he was a manager, he made plenty of money, none of which we ever saw a penny of.
‘He was a car salesman and he’d come home and say we smashed this target, that target, he said he’d earned 70 grand this year, 65 grand last year, just a proper vulgar man.
‘We never had clothes, never had trainers, never had holidays and I stopped getting birthday presents.
‘We never got Christmas presents because Christmas was a load of b******s apparently.
‘Throughout the years I’d been kicked out of the house depending on what girlfriend he had and what preferences she had.
‘I’d never had anything, didn’t have one pair of trainers for six months at one point.’
He said his father had a succession of younger girlfriends and had re-mortgaged the house to buy Christmas presents for them, while his children weren’t allowed any.
Summing up the case Judge Watson said: ‘The events of 14 September 2021 were shocking and tragic.
‘The very fact that a son could attack his father in such a manner raises questions.
‘Sean Maurice’s childhood was an unhappy one and the prosecution do not dispute that Sean’s father Paul could at times be mean or emotionally cruel and violent.
‘The prosecution say the abuse provided a motivation for revenge and on the 14 September it became too much, with the drink and the drugs, and became a motive to murder his father, there was no loss of control.
‘The defence say Sean wanted an apology for abuse or at least an acknowledgment of what he did, he wasn’t materially affected by alcohol and his father’s reaction to his attempt, a mocking, dismissive, aggressive reaction, caused Sean to lose control.’
Source: Read Full Article
