Bizarre burglary follows drug-fuelled stabbing
A woman stabbed a friend eight times, walked into the home of strangers to hide the bloodied knife and put on someone else’s underwear, a judge says.
Roxsanne Christison, 32, had been with her partner in Wainuiomata on September 1, 2018. They argued before Christison turned on one of her friends, thinking the woman was involved with her partner.
At Wellington District Court yesterday, Judge Jan Kelly recounted how Christison hit the woman’s head with a hammer, and used a kitchen knife to stab her eight times on her shoulder, arms, abdomen and thigh, causing wounds 2-3cm deep.
The victim suffered a collapsed lung, a colon injury that required a colostomy, a fractured rib and a fracture in her lower back.
Christison’s lawyer, Steve Gill, said the victim did not really engage in the justice process so there were questions about what happened to her.
But the burglary that followed the incident was at the ‘‘upper level of bizarre’’, he said. After the stabbing, Christison wandered around Wainuiomata wearing just a bra and socks. She thought she recognised a house, and she saw a green light she thought meant ‘‘go’’.
She walked into the house through an unlocked door about 10.30pm. One of the occupants thought the noise was his daughter returning home.
After midnight, his daughter came home to find Christison, who had showered, wearing her underwear and other clothes. The knife was hidden in a wardrobe.
Christison knew the woman’s name, had rummaged through her belongings, and put some of them in a bag to take away.
Gill said Christison had been smoking methamphetamine for three days before the incidents. It didn’t excuse what she did but it was the only explanation.
Christison was arrested in the house she burgled and spent about 18 months in custody on remand before she went to a rehabilitation centre. She finished the course and did three months on electronically-monitored bail.
She pleaded guilty to injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, burglary, trespassing and theft.
The judge said reports about Christison’s background made ‘‘sober reading’’, with abuse, a mother she had not seen for 27 years and a father who went to jail for seven years. Her education was limited, and she had lost contact with her two children, who lived with their father. Her drug use increased dramatically after her children went.
With the time in custody and on electronically monitored bail she had effectively already served the punishment part of the sentence, Judge Kelly said.
He imposed 18 months’ supervision to monitor Christison and have her take further rehabilitation.