Paul Maurice was stabbed around 30 times by his son Sean
(Picture: Met Police)A man accused of murdering his own father said he carried out the attack after being sexually abused, the Old Bailey heard.
Sean Maurice, 31, stabbed his father Paul around 30 times at his home in Bromley before going on the run from police.
When he was captured, Maurice 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.”
He added: “You want to arrest me? What kind of f***ing justice is that?”, jurors heard.
Maurice has admitted manslaughter but denies murder, arguing the stabbing happened due to “loss of control”.
Opening the case, prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC said the victim’s neighbour, Mark Ovenell, opened his front door on the evening of September 14, 2021 to find a shirtless and bloodied Mr Maurice “slumped on the doorstep”.
“He was saying that he was finding it difficult to breathe, and that he didn’t want to die”, said the prosecutor.
“Mr Ovenell asked him what had happened. Paul said that his son had attacked him with a knife. He had visible wounds on his back and chest. In fact, he had been stabbed about 30 times.”
Mr Maurice, 51, named his son Sean as the attacker and a manhunt was launched, culminating in a 30-minute stand-off between police and Maurice on the roof of a garden shed.
“He was surrounded by police before eventually being detained and arrested”, said Mr Emlyn Jones.
He told jurors they will not have to decide on the identity of the killer, but must determine “why” and “how” the stabbing took place.
“He said that his father had raped him – Is that true? I can’t tell you the answer to that”, said the prosecutor.
“Paul Maurice is not here to answer that allegation: he is dead. He is not the person on trial.”
He said the allegation against Mr Maurice is “highly emotive” but told jurors: “If it were true, it might perfectly naturally lead you to feel great sympathy for the defendant.
“But that is not the same thing as saying he is not guilty of murder.
“I need hardly tell you that the law does not permit any of us to take the law into our own hands and commit terrible acts of violence, let alone fatal violence, against those who have done us wrong.”
Maurice, from Bromley in Kent, denies murder. The trial continues.
