A MAN was found guilty of throwing a rock through the car window of a family friend whose newlywed husband allegedly beat up his mum at his own wedding the night before.

Thomas Percival Bowden, 24, originally from Falmouth and now living in Marazion, was on trial before Truro magistrates last week charged with criminal damage, which he denied.

His mum, Vivienne Street, 41 from Penryn, sustained injuries to her face and hip the night of the wedding after an altercation at a same-sex wedding on May 20, 2017.

Bowden called six alibi witnesses to his trial, who all said he had been looking after his mum at her house that day and could not have damaged the car.

It emerged during the trial that Bowden’s mum, one of the witnesses, had 17 offences on her criminal record related to dishonesty and fraud in the 1990s and 2000s.

Giving evidence in court, the groom and alleged attacker said that there had been a minor altercation at the wedding after Vivienne directed a homophobic slur at him when he refused to put her drinks on his tab, which he said “was strange because she was at a gay wedding”.

He then pushed her into the bar, although he said she did not fall over and he was later ordered to write her a letter of apology.

The alleged attacker’s husband also gave evidence and spoke about the moment he saw Bowden arrive at his house to confront the newlyweds, who were just about to set off to Devon for their honeymoon.

He said that at around 3.45pm on May 20, 2017, a car pulled into their driveway and four men got out.

He added: “They were moving almost in a pack, almost like animals and pretty menacing in their demeanour.

“One chap wearing a jumper rolled up covering his face and he said, ‘Do you know what happened to my mother?’

“Having heard the hearsay I knew it was Vivienne’s son. I have met him a dozen times.

“From the things he was saying, he wanted to be aggressive to my husband.”

He went on to say: “He said something about getting tooled up. He was shoving something down his trousers, giving me the impression that he had a gun. He carried on saying he was coming for [my husband], I tried to rationalise with him and calm him down.

He added: “His parting shot was to pick up a large piece of granite off the driveway and throw it through the window of my car.”

Bowden, who defended himself, pleaded not guilty to the criminal damage charge, saying he was looking after his mum on the day in question.

It was revealed by William Hazelton, who cross-examined the prosecution witnesses on behalf of Bowden, that the defendant’s original solicitor had only been in contact with him twice since May 20, 2017, and that Bowden was not properly informed that he had to give the court notice if he wanted to call on witnesses.

Mr Hazelton told magistrates: “I’m concerned that justice should be done to Mr Bowden. In my respectful opinion it doesn’t make sense to start a trial this afternoon.”

Magistrates decided to go ahead with the trial and Bowden was found guilty.

He was due to be sentenced on Monday, but did not appear and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Speaking to the Packet before the trial last week, he said of the attack on his mum: “I’m not exaggerating, she was nearly left dead. He picked up a rock and chucked it on her leg. I have never seen anything like that.”

Vivienne claimed that both her and the groom were kicked out of the reception after he grabbed her by the throat and she started screaming.

She alleged that he followed her and continued his attack and slammed her head against a granite post, before picking up a large rock and dropping it on her leg.