A man who beat an elderly woman after he broke into her home was yesterday sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Charles Lightbourne, 51, learned his fate at the penalty phase of his trial before Justice Renae McKay.
Lightbourne, who spent two years and two months on remand, will receive credit for the time he’s already spent in custody.
He faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
On May 2021 at around 10:30 p.m., Lightbourne’s 78-year-old victim was on the phone with her daughter when she heard a noise outside.
She opened the front door to investigate and saw a cat, which led her to assume the cat made the sound.
After closing the door, the woman went into the kitchen and made a cup of tea.
She took her tea into the master bedroom. When she entered the room, Lightbourne jumped out of her closet and grabbed her, causing her to drop her tea.
She fell to the ground and Lightbourne beat her in the head and about the body.
After the attack, Lightbourne made the woman drop him home.
When she returned to her house, she realized that he had entered through the bathroom window.
Police recovered Lightbourne’s prints from the point of entry and inside the home.
The victim told the probation officer Andrea Saunders that she was still traumatized by the event and would only feel safe if Lightbourne got a life sentence.
Terry Archer was the prosecutor and Dorsey McPhee represented Lightbourne.
