(Image: Newsquest)
A woman who stabbed a man twice in the stomach has walked free from court.
Laura Thompson was told she was lucky to have not killed the man when she attacked him when an argument broke out.
The 38-year-old told the man to go to hospital after plunging the knife into his abdomen, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Graham O’Sullivan said the man Thompson stabbed was serving a prison sentence and did not want to give evidence in court.
He said the man had visited a friend on Ruby Street, Shildon, where he and Thompson argued on May 6 this year.
“He said she came for him, and he grabbed her and pushed her,” he said.
“The other man, armed with a machete, ordered him out of the house. Thompson followed him out and she came at him again.
“She has lunged toward him and he said – “what are you trying to do, stab me?” and she replied – “I’m not trying, you have two holes in you, you daft ****, you best get yourself to hospital’.
“It was at this point, he realised she had stabbed him.”
Mr O’Sullivan said the victim called an ambulance only after the wounds would not stop bleeding.
He said: “The victim went home after the attack but called an ambulance when he continued to bleed.
“He was taken to hospital for treatment for two wounds to his abdomen.”
The court heard neither stab wound damaged his organs.
Thompson, of Morton Crescent, Fence Houses, Tyne and Wear, admitted wounding and possessing a bladed article after her arrest.
Her lawyer, Paul Rooney, urged the judge to consider her guilty pleas and troubled background before sentencing her.
Read more
Man jailed for unprovoked stabbing of another guest at Newcastle city centre hotel
'I died for 15 minutes' - Darlington gran's ordeal trying to rescue dog from lake
Hero stabbed as they stepped in to detain 'shoplifter' in high street bakery chain
Judge Amanda Rippon handed Thompson a 16-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
“You are very lucky you didn’t kill this man,” she said. “You are very lucky that you didn’t cause him really serious injuries.”
“Never take a knife to a person again.”