A TEENAGER from Newport has avoided a custodial prison sentence despite telling his mother he was going to burn the house down while his whole family was inside it, and slit her throat.
Casey Jones Ramsbothan, 20, was kicked out of his family home in Newport aged 19 for a series of harassment against his mother.
Newport Crown Court heard on December 19 that Casey accused his mother of not looking after him properly, and would call his mother a ‘c***’, threaten to stab her, threaten to slit her throat and get his friends to rape her.
The prosecution told the court that although they tried to handle him themselves, “his family could not take it anymore” and so they called the police in February this year.
From May, Ramsbothan has been held inside HMP Cardiff.
“The incident that led to his arrest happened on February 4, when the defendant visited his family home and told his mother he was going to burn the house down while everyone was inside it,” said the prosecution, Dan Jones.
He initially attended their address to ask his mum to help him obtain more cannabis as he had run out, the court heard.
The defendant would visit his family home regularly, around five or six times a week, “for his needs” which would include eating or charging his phone.
It was on these occasions that he would become abusive, and the family described how they would be “walking on eggshells” whenever he was around.
Other details read to the court included how his mother had to stop working through the fear her son would show up at her workplace, and that he has an unrelated previous conviction of burglary.
Acting in his defence, Julia Cox provided Judge Daniel Williams with two psychiatric reports demonstrating the poor state of the defendant’s mental health at the time of offending as he has a “neurological disorder.”
“This is a tragic set of circumstances” said Julia Cox, after pointing out that Ramsbothan’s grandmother was present in court.
While acknowledging that his offending caused his family “serious distress” it was agreed that due to his age, if he receives the right support from probation services, there is a “realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”
Thus, Judge Daniel Williams sentenced him to a 12 month community order, with 20 days of rehabilitation activity.
He was also fined just over £100.