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ATTACK: The 37-year-old suspect, who cannot be identified, is in custody following the horrific assault last month

A 37-YEAR-OLD man has been accused of subjecting his own mother to a horrific sexual attack, it has been reported.

The suspect, from South Memphis, Tennessee, is believed to have assaulted his 57-year-old mother in their home last month.

According to court reports, the suspect asked his mother to come into his bedroom and hold a table while he changed a light bulb in the ceiling, but instead police say he grabbed his mother from behind and raped her.

“It’s awful,” said neighbour Annette Griffin who said she was happy the suspect was off the streets.

Victim advocates, who have come across a great deal of assault cases, say that rape committed by an adult child is “very rare.”

“Usually sexual abuse within a family involves an adult abusing a child, but in this case it’s unusual in that it’s an adult attacking another adult,” said Anna Whalley, Administrator Crime Victim Services of Selby County.

Ms Whalley said that seeking justice would be extremely hard for the victim because despite the violence, the love for her son would remain.

“You wouldn’t have any bad feelings about putting a stranger in jail for the rest of his life if that’s what they deserve, but when it’s your own child you do,” she added.

Friends of the victim, who moved out of the house days after the attack, say she does not seem like herself anymore.

Ms Whalley advised: “Let [rape victims] know that this is a tragic loss and then help them to help them get their life going afterwards so they don’t stay in that terrible moment.”

The suspect is being held in jail on a $500,000 bond.