Tattoo row sparks knife threat in pizza takeaway
A woman who put a knife to the throat of a man after he made unwelcome comments about her tattoo, has been spared jail.
Trouble flared at Molianos restaurant in Market Street, Stourbridge, where Marie Johnson and Christopher Weston had gone for a pizza after leaving a nearby pub on August 16, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
She insisted that he had been intimidating her with his conversation and warned: “Don’t tell me what to do,” said Mr Dean Easthope, prosecuting.
When he laughed off the threat she came towards him and he suddenly felt something pressed against his neck, the court was told.
Fortunately his friend saw the 35-year-old defendant take the knife from her bag and managed to disarm her in the nick of time, continued the prosecutor.
Mr Weston said in a victim impact statement which was referred to in court: “I thought she was being aggressive but it was scary and unnerving when I realised what she had done.”
He escaped with a mark on the throat that did not break the skin.
Ms Seamran Sidhu, defending, revealed Johnson had mental health issues which stemmed from domestic violence and had acted irrationally after forgetting to take her medication.
The defendant, from Mamble Road, Wollaston, admitted assaulting Mr Weston and being in possession of a three-inch blade knife.
She was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, with a three-month night-time curfew and rehabilitation course.
Sentencing, recorder David Mason QC told her: “Bearing in mind the prolific offending with knives in public I had intended to pass an immediate custodial sentence but I had not realised the significant issues you have faced after a very serious offence was committed against you."
