COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — A Columbus man faces battery charges for allegedly attacking his mother after he couldn't control the family dogs.

According to court testimony this week, 19-year-old Steven Montjoy's mother asked him to keep the dogs from jumping on their furniture. When he couldn't accomplish the task, The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports  that he began cursing at the animals and then turned his rage against his mother.

The woman eventually locked him out of the home and called police, who arrived hours later to find her with abrasions on her arm and throat. Montjoy was sleeping in a car.

His mother told the court that her son has a drug problem. She said that she and her 9-year-old daughter are in therapy because they are afraid of Montjoy.

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