A WOMAN in her seventies was given a suspended sentence after she took out a knife during an argument with an older man – during which she smacked, pushed and verbally threatened him.
Mary Patricia Woodward (70) admitted one charge of grave and criminal assault.
The attack came to light after members of the public witnessed it, filmed parts of it and called 999.
Crown Advocate Christina Hall, prosecuting, said Woodward was “animated” and appeared “distressed and angry” according to one witness.
During the argument, Woodward pushed the victim, a man in his 80s, “causing him to stumble backwards”, hit him with a bag, and pushed him again, the court was told.
She also pulled out a sharp kitchen knife, the court heard, although Woodward was sentenced on the basis that she only held the knife and did not brandish it.
By the time the police arrived, blood was splattered on the floor, the victim’s eye was swollen and bleeding, he had fresh cuts on his legs, blood on his face and his collar, and his cheek was bruised and red.
The court heard that, in her statement to police, Woodward said: “I did whack him, it was all with fists and I hit him round the face and kicked him,” adding “I hit and hit him a lot”. She added that she “wouldn’t have stabbed him”.
The victim later told officers that Woodward had told him: “I’m gonna kill you and I don’t care if I have to go to prison”, Crown Advocate Hall continued.
Even without brandishing the knife, “the event would have been very frightening for the victim”, the advocate added.
And while the victim didn’t support a prosecution, Advocate Hall said it was suspected the victim could not remember the incident well.
Advocate Greg Herold-Howes, defending, said Woodward had gone through a period of stress prior to the attack, when she “reached the end of her tether”.
Reference letters described her as “someone who has spent her life caring for others” and were “consistent” in their description of her.
The physical injuries were superficial and the man made a full recovery, he added.
Delivering the court’s sentence, Deputy Bailiff Mark Temple, presiding, said knife crime was “a serious matter”.
“Picking up a knife in the course of an argument is a dangerous thing to do,” he said.
He handed Woodward a 15-month sentence, suspended for 15 months.
Mr Temple was sitting with Jurats Ronge and Powell.
