A family’s breakfast was disturbed when a child informed their parents that there was a woman outside with a hammer who wanted to kill mum.
Christina Stewart, 56, turned up at the home in Dingwall and shouted for the family to “come out” or she would “come in”.
She told her victims, members of her own family with whom she had fallen out, that they should leave the Ross-shire town and threatened to ‘cut’ them if they did not.
Stewart, 56, appeared for sentencing at Inverness Sheriff Court having pled guilty to a single charge of behaving and a threatening or abusive manner.
Fiscal depute Hilary Michopoulou told the court that the incident happened at around 9.20am on March 21 last year.
She said: “The witnesses were having breakfast with young children when the children informed them that the accused was outside.
“They know the accused as she is a family member. One of the children said the accused was outside with a hammer and wanted to ‘kill my mum’.”
‘Come out, come out!’
Mrs Michopoulou continued: “She shouted: ‘Come out, come out! I’m not leaving until you come out. If you don’t come out, I’m coming in,” before telling the family: “I’ll cut you in bits so you had better leave Dingwall.”
The object Stewart was carrying in a Tesco bag wasn’t a hammer, but a dumbbell.
She used it to damage the front door and police were called.
When officers arrived they observed that Stewart was acting in a disorderly manner.
She continued to shout and swear after being asked to stop and was arrested.
Solicitor Graham Mann, for Stewart, told the court that the offence had occurred against a history of disagreement between the family members.
‘Words had been exchanged’
He said: “Words had been exchanged between herself and other members of the family.
“Things had been said regarding her son, who had died a number of years ago. These comments had made her upset and she then confronted the other members of the family.”
Sheriff Gary Aitken placed Stewart, of Ord Terrace, Strathpeffer, on a structured deferred sentence for three months to allow her to demonstrate good behaviour and address underlying problems that may have contributed to her offending.
He said: “There are certainly some issues in your life that it would be constructive for you to deal with.”
