A woman who was shot in the head at point blank range with an air rifle in the Highlands described her attacker as “evil” today.
Samantha Brown, 25, smiled as she was jailed for three years at Inverness Sheriff Court today after shooting her neighbour in the head in a row over her feeding the gulls in their street.
Ms Johnson, of Balintore in Easter Ross, was shot by Brown, of 122 Mansefield Estate, Tain, with a .22 weapon on July 5 last year.
Sheriff David Sutherland told Brown: “Despite your childhood background which has impacted on you in later life, this was an appalling offence which could have had fatal consequences.
“Anyone who takes an air rifle and shoots someone at close range must expect a significant prison sentence.”
Ms Johnson said afterwards: “She is evil. She didn’t seem remorseful at all.
“I am pleased with the sentence although she will be free in around 18 months. I am just glad it is all over. It has been a year of waiting.
“But I am still suffering from the after effects. The pellet is still lodged in my head and doctors say it is too dangerous to remove it.
“I am deaf in my right ear and have constant headaches. But I suppose I am lucky because I could have been killed.”
Ms Johnson had been playing games on her tablet in the early hours of a Saturday morning when she heard her dog barking. She got up to see what was going on and went to the front door.
She said: “I could hear the ‘ping ping’ and saw someone shooting the birds in the square. It was Sam Brown, with a gun and she was shooting the gulls.
“I challenged her about it and told her I was going to phone the police.
“She turned round, pointed the rifle at me and said she would shoot me instead. I asked her to put the gun down and the next thing was she shot me. Then she said she was going to shoot me again.
“I was only five feet away from her but I didn’t realise she had hit me until I put my hands up to my head and saw the blood.”
Defence lawyer Alison Foggo said: “There is little that can be said to mitigate this offence. She has never shirked responsibility for this.
“She was at a low ebb at the time because her relationship was floundering and she had had a miscarriage. She suffers from a number of health difficulties after having significant childhood trauma which has resulted in psychological damage and long-standing behavioural difficulties.
“She had been binge-drinking and misusing prescription medication at the time and was drunk at the time. She has little recollection of the event.”
