Jealous woman jailed for mistakenly attacking neighbour

An Upper Hutt woman who smashed her way into her 17-year-old neighbour's flat and viciously attacked her in the "unfounded and mistaken belief" she was having an affair with her boyfriend was jailed for four years today.

Carla Mary Lambert had been drinking on the night of March 6 this year when she accused her boyfriend of cheating on her with their neighbour, the High Court at Wellington was told today.

Although her boyfriend denied this, the 31-year-old attacked him before running to the victim's flat where she smashed a window pane so she could reach around and unlock the front door, Justice Ron Young said.

The victim was asleep and awoke to the sound of Lambert yelling abuse, he said.

Lambert dragged the woman out of bed by her hair and began punching her in the head.

She then picked up a glass candlestick holder and smashed the woman around the head four or five times until the candlestick holder broke.

She then picked up a plastic CD holder and began hitting her with that.

The victim yelled "you're going to kill me", Justice Young said.

Lambert had replied "yes, I'm going to f***ing kill you".

The attack only stopped when Lambert's boyfriend came into the flat and dragged her off their neighbour who was close to losing consciousness and bleeding profusely from cuts to her head, which took two months to heal.

After being arrested, Lambert was taken to Upper Hutt police station where she attacked two police officers, Justice Young said.

The victim now feared for her safety, was forced to move homes and "suffered the humiliation of having to go to her own flat and scrub her own blood off the walls".

Justice Young said suggestions Lambert would change her ways "rang hollow", when she had 26 previous convictions for violent or disorderly conduct and was on a sentence of supervision when the attack occurred.

However, she was entitled to credit for pleading guilty.

Defence lawyer Shane Robinson said Lambert had not gone into the flat with weapons but had "impulsively" picked them up.

She had threatened to kill her neighbour but that was not reflected in the injuries the victim suffered, which were not life-threatening or long-term, he said.

Crown prosecutor Cameron Mander said aggravating factors for Lambert were the premeditation of the home invasion-type attack, the use of weapons and the vulnerability of the victim because she was asleep.

Justice Young sentenced her to four years for wounding with intent to wound, three years for burglary, one year for threatening to kill and six months for assaulting two police officers, all to be served concurrently.

- NZPA