Man ‘overwhelmed by anger’ beat his dad to death in row over pigs, trial told
A man accused of killing his own father has said it was like a ‘fuse blew’ in his head moments before the attack.
Dafydd Thomas, a prominent North Wales businessman, was found by his wife on the driveway of their home in March 2021 with ‘catastrophic facial injuries’.
Tony Thomas, of Maes Y Garth, Minffordd, Penrhyndeudraeth, is on trial and denies the manslaughter or murder of his dad, a former Gwynedd Environmental Waste Services (GEWS) director.
But he has accepted he carried out a ‘forceful’ attack after pulling the 65-year-old from his truck.
But Thomas claims someone else must have inflicted the final blows.
The 45-year-old explained how, on the day of the incident, he had been angry after failing to block a shipment of new pigs coming into the area.
Mold Crown Court heard he was almost certain his father was the one responsible for the purchase.
Thomas told his defence solicitor Gordon Aspden KC that his dad didn’t seem to care for his concerns that the onew arrivals could impact the health of his own pigs.
A ‘fuse blew in [his] head’ just before the attack happened.
The trial heard how Thomas – who claimed to be ‘overwhelmed by anger’ – remembered kicking his father’s torso and stamping on his face whilst wearing steel-toe wellington boots.
According to the prosecution, he then walked back home and washed the blood off his footwear in an animal trough.
The defendant said he remembered armed police later came to arrest him but maintains that his dad was still alive after he left him lying in the road.
Earlier, the trial heard how Dr Andrew Shepherd, a forensic psychiatrist, assessed Thomas after he was arrested.
He was diagnosed as suffering with a condition known as schizo-affective disorder – a combination of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
This condition caused him to suffer from manic episodes and delusional thoughts.
Most of the false reality he believed in at the time centred on beating the-then worldwide Covid pandemic, the court heard.
The trial continues.
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