Man denies using a walking stick to attack his father

Colin Victor McDonald, 59, of Clarke Court in Antrim town, is charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm on May 20 this year. A prosecutor said the defendant's dad was "allegedly prone on the sofa" when the accused allegedly struck him around the head causing a cut above his eye and then "struck him on the back with a walking stick".

The court was told that in a police interview the defendant alleged he received a phone call from his mother saying she was "concerned about his father potentially assaulting her". The defendant told police he "hit his father with the flat of his hand up the face" and rang a "Pastor".

The defendant claimed he was walking out of the house when is father said "I am going to get you shot dead" and when he saw the walking stick the defendant used it to "hit him twice with it".

A defence said the defendant said "any strikes being laid upon his father, was in self-defence".

At Antrim Magistrates' Court, sitting in Ballymena, the case was adjourned to December 3.