Axe woman who brought terror to church walks free
‘Let red mist come down’
A WOMAN who brandished an axe at churchgoers and smashed up a c ar was s pared j ai l yesterday.
Veronica Stewart, 23, believed her sick father had been assaulted at a Christian convention. She turned up as a Sunday service was ending and shouted ‘get out, you’re dead, I’m killing you’ at two female worshippers.
The pair hid in the minister’s office of the Pentecostal church – opposite a police station in Falkirk, Stirlingshire.
Stewart then retrieved an axe from a white van, Falkirk Sheriff Court heard.
Prosecutor Susan Campbell said: ‘She was waving [the axe] above her head. She was shout- ing.’ Stewart then started damaging a blue Vauxhall Insignia car parked nearby, which belonged to the husband of one of the women in the church.
Miss Campbell said: ‘She was striking it with an object. The front passenger window was totally smashed.’
More than £3,000 worth of damage was inflicted, includi ng a l arge dent on the bonnet.
Stewart, of Laurieston, Falkirk, pleaded guilty last month to using threatening and abusive behaviour at the People’s Church about 8pm on June 26 last year.
The church is directly opposite the town’s police station.
Appearing for sentencing yesterday, her solicitor Willie McIntyre said she had wanted to talk to people at the church about an alleged assault on her sick father at a Christian convention not l ong before.
The court heard proceedings in relation to the assault allegation had been dropped.
Mr McIntyre said the axe was in the van for cutting firewood, adding: ‘ It was an unwise attempt to mediate with others at the church which went horribly wrong.
‘ She can’t believe s he allowed the red mist to come down.’
He said Stewart was planning to leave the area.
Calling her behaviour ‘reprehensible’, Sheriff Derek Livingston ordered Stewart to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and said she was spared custody due to her ‘own circumstances’.
Stewart’s sister Chantelle, 20, admitted shouting and being abusive. Sentence was deferred.