A 41-year-old man who fractured his 71-year-old mother’s eye socket, nose and some of her ribs when he lashed out at her in anger has been sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison.
Sean Alden Tester punched, kicked and bit his mother’s face during the assault, which lasted up to an hour in the Corbett home they shared, authorities say. Tester then called 911 to report a home invasion, saying he found his mother injured after returning home from a bar on Feb. 21, according to the prosecution.
Sean Tester (Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office)
Multnomah County sheriff’s deputies arrived to find the elderly woman in a pool of blood on the floor, but no signs that someone forced their way into the East Bell Road home. Tester ultimately admitted that there was no intruder and described the assault in detail.
Those details included hearing a gurgling sound coming from his mother. Tester thought it was blood, and eventually called for an ambulance after his mother said she would die if he didn’t, a probable cause affidavit states.
A deputy noted that both of the woman’s eyes appeared to be swollen shut and her lips appeared to be “torn and barely hanging intact,” the affidavit says.
Tester began assaulting his mother apparently after he asked her to drive him somewhere, but it was about 10 p.m. and she said she wanted to go to bed, authorities say.
During a hearing Friday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Tester pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and coercion, both constituting domestic violence. He also acknowledged that he had violated his probation for previous arson and coercion convictions.
Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney Traci Anderson, who prosecuted the case, said in a news release that Tester’s mother suffered life-altering injuries.
“This attack was deliberate, cruel and selfish,” Anderson said. “The severity of the attack was particularly shocking.”
— Aimee Green
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