A man who attacked his mother’s partner with a machete, seriously injuring his ear, has been jailed for two years and four months.

Amir Tufail fetched the weapon from his room in Chatham and struck Mohammed Shapoor with it, believing his mother was in an abusive relationship, Maidstone Crown Court heard.

The 24-year-old father, of Upper Luton Road, admitted unlawful wounding shortly before he was due to stand trial on Friday.

Tufail was described as being “like the lid blowing off a pressure cooker” when he launched the attack on February 8.

He had witnessed his brother being murdered and his sister died soon afterwards. His mother was vulnerable and Tufail had concerns about her relationship with Mr Shapoor. They had since parted.

Prosecutor Andrew Collings said it was “more by luck than judgement” that more serious injury was not caused to the victim, who was granted asylum after coming to the UK from Afghanistan about six years ago.

Since the attack he had suffered from depression, anxiety, and flashbacks. He would need more surgery to correct the damage to his ear.

"I came to this country to get away from it" - Mohammed Shappoor

“One of his comments was ‘I came to this country to get away from it’,” said Mr Collings.

William Evans, defending, said Tufail’s first child had just been born. Having been remanded in custody he had not seen his baby.

“He holds no malice towards Mr Shapoor,” said Mr Evans. “He accepts the injury was a serious one. This was a one off occurrence. It was like a lid blowing off a pressure cooker.”

Judge Martin Huseyin said the victim’s injury was serious and effectively life changing, as part of his ear was missing.

The judge said he was “particularly disturbed” that Tufail had a machete in his room.

“There are some unusual factors in your case, particularly your tragic family background,” he said.

“You found yourself rightly described like the lid of a pressure cooker coming off, you having lost it.

“Your motivation for bringing the machete down from your room was a feeling of protection to your mother, who you felt was probably in an abusive relationship.

“You felt you were being financially exploited. You felt you and your partner were the only ones bringing money into the house.”

The judge said Tufail’s remorse and guilty plea were important, adding: “You are a hardworking and otherwise law-abiding young man.”

He had served a substantial amount of the sentence passed on remand.