An 86-year-old great-grandmother feared for her life during a horrific, unprovoked attack from her drunken neighbour.
Her attacker, Patricia Hamilton, had popped around to the elderly woman’s home with an Easter Egg as a present and was invited inside.
But after several hours of drinking, the 58-year-old overstayed her welcome and flew into a rage upon being asked to leave.
Hamilton kicked the pensioner to the ground and struck her repeatedly to the face before flinging a chair towards her.
The terrified 86-year-old eventually managed to scramble to her feet and fled from her home, seeking refuge with another neighbour.
Fiscal depute Emma Petersen told Aberdeen Sheriff Court Hamilton went to the OAP’s Rowan Road home at around 6pm on April 19.
She was invited inside where she drank for several hours.
Ms Petersen said: “As the evening wore on, the accused became increasingly intoxicated.
“At around 8.30pm, the complainer suggested she should go home because it was getting late.
“The accused took umbrage at that suggestion, screamed ‘b*****d’ and proceeded to kick the complainer.”
As a result of the kick, the pensioner fell off her chair onto the floor.
The stunned woman told Hamilton: “You’re scaring me.”
But as she lay helpless on the floor, Hamilton continued the brutal assault and struck her repeatedly to the face.
Ms Petersen said: “As she struggled to get herself up off the floor, the accused picked up a chair and threw it at the complainer.
“The complainer eventually managed to get up to her feet and fled her address.”
‘This must have been absolutely terrifying’
The pensioner ran to a neighbour in a “state of shock” and was “upset and extremely distressed”, the fiscal depute added.
She managed to phone one of her sons and when he arrived Hamilton was still inside the woman’s home and refused to leave.
Hamilton told him: “I wouldn’t hurt your mother. I love your mother.”
The police were then contacted.
The pensioner later went to the hospital and was found to have escaped with only bruising and minor cuts to her face.
On returning home, she found Hamilton had left flowers outside and posted an apology letter through her door.
Hamilton, of Rowan Road, Aberdeen, pled guilty to a charge of assault to injury.
Defence agent Neil McRobert said his client appeared with a “limited” record.
He said that in her police interview, Hamilton was “mortified” when she was told what she’d done.
Mr McRobert went on: “She’s been a neighbour and friend of the complainer for over 30 years.
‘The lassie turned’
“At the time, she was struggling with her mental health.
“On the day of the offence, she had been consuming alcohol.”
He explained Hamilton had no recollection of what happened but is “disgusted by her behaviour”.
The lawyer added that she had engaged with support from alcohol services and had not drunk for 150 days.
Sheriff Joseph Platt told Hamilton: “This must have been a dreadful experience for your neighbour.
“For her to be subjected to an assault such as this must have been absolutely terrifying.”
He ordered Hamilton to be under supervision for 18 months.
Following the court case, the son of Hamilton’s victim hit out at the “bitterly disappointing” sentence and the impact that the brutal, unprovoked attack has had on his mum.
‘It was a horrible ordeal she went through’
He said: “I’m deeply disappointed to be honest, as is my mother.
“It’s absolute nonsense.
“My mother feared for her life that night. I’m not exaggerating that – she was petrified.”
The son said when he found Hamilton in his mum’s house that night she was “absolutely paralytic”.
He said: “[My mum] was punched, kicked, for absolutely nothing. The lassie turned.
“She’s always been a nuisance, but my mother’s old generation. She’s 87 years old now and wouldn’t turn you away.”
Describing the impact the assault had had on his mum, he went on: “My mother was petrified to go home, so she had to live with me for 10 days before she started getting a bit of confidence back.
“It was a horrible ordeal she went through.”
He said his mother was so frightened of Hamilton that she was scared to leave the house and sit on a garden bench during the summer for fear of seeing her.
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