Jail over stabbing

A NEWTOWN woman was haunted by the memory of previous assaults when she and her partner argued after a night of causal drinking in front of the television.

She recognised his pattern of behaviour and feared he would turn violent again.

Pre-emptively, she armed herself with a 7cm paring knife and went on the offensive.

The Toowoomba District Court heard that during the altercation the woman cut her partner’s thumb and stabbed him in the elbow and back.

After the argument, the 59year-old woman used towels to mop up his blood, applied pressure to his wounds and called paramedics.

“She realised what she has done and that she was going to go to jail,” Crown Prosecutor Shontelle Petrie said.

The court heard the stab wound to his elbow caused nerve damage, which needed tendon replacement surgery before the man regained use of his hand.

The woman’s barrister, David Jones, said the man had a history of violence.

“She thought she was acting in self-defence,” he said.

The man had also served a five-month jail sentence for violence inflicted on the woman.

Fearing the man’s violent nature, Mr Jones said his client always had a bag packed, ready to flee on foot if needed.

In sentencing, Judge Nathan Jarro noted the defendant’s history, both as the victim and perpetrator of domestic violence, and the tough stance courts must take on knife assaults.

Pleading guilty, the woman was sentenced to two and a half years in jail, with immediate parole.

The couple are no longer together.