A mother has spoken out about her partner’s “irrational and controlling behaviour” after her son was charged with his murder.
Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden, 30, was charged with murdering his stepdad Robert Lumsden at their home in Arundel, Gold Coast, after an alleged altercation over a $25 bakery lunch.
Bayldon-Lumsden, a councillor, allegedly put Mr Lumsden in a “choker hold” and restrained him for two minutes until he stopped moving and “went limp”, according to court documents seen by the Courier Mail.
In an affidavit in support of her son’s bail bid Katrina Bayldon said Mr Lumsden subjected the family to “years of verbal and emotional abuse”.
She also said Mr Lumsden threatened her son’s political career if he did not break up with a former Cirque du Soleil acrobat.
Ms Bayldon said she only felt safe speaking out now because her partner was dead.
Bayldon-Lumsden was granted bail at Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday.
Ms Bayldon, who is deputy principal at Southport State High school, told the court Mr Lumsden was an angry man who “made life at home very unpleasant” and “wanted to control everything that occurred in the household”.
She said that Mr Lumsden controlled her son’s education, relationships, sport and even his bank accounts.
When Bayldon-Lumsden became a councillor earning $160,000 a year, Mr Lumsden would give him an “allowance” of his own wages.
Court documents also claim that Mr Lumsden told Bayldon-Lumsden to break up with his girlfriend Bianca Ruyssenaers, a Cirque du Soleil performer, because he claimed she would be no “assistance to you getting re-elected”.
Ms Bayldon said her son only lived at home aged 30 to protect her and his sister and would become “stressed and frightened” when discussing his stepfather.
Mr Lumsden also recorded his 18-year-old daughter Ruth’s weight each week and put her on a gym program.
“Our household was not a happy functional household,” Ms Bayldon told the court in her statement.
“We experienced a lot of fear and anxiety trying to negotiate Robert’s irrational controlling behaviour.
“We did everything we could in an attempt to prevent Robert getting angry and losing his temper.
“I cannot explain why I let Robert control me and treat me and my children so badly for so long. Robert’s behaviour towards all of us got worse and worse over the years and after a while it all just seemed normal.
“I feel like Robert was in total control of me and my children. It is only now that he is gone that I feel that I am safe to speak about the years of emotional and verbal abuse that my children and I suffered at the hands of Robert.”
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