A WOMAN who was stabbed in the chest after smashing her way into a home at Muswellbrook in an act of domestic-violence related "retribution" has avoided a jail term.
The woman, 49, in March pleaded guilty to aggravated break and enter and intimidation over the home invasion in Dalwood Place late on the night of July 8 last year.
Prosecutors withdrew a number of other charges and agreed to prosecute the matter summarily in the local court at Muswellbrook, where the woman faced lesser maximum penalties.
And on Wednesday, the woman avoided a jail term and was ordered to serve an 18-month intensive corrections order and complete 150 hours of community service.
The Newcastle Herald reported last year that the man who stabbed two intruders - the 49-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy - who turned the power off to his home and smashed their way inside had been found guilty of reckless wounding after a magistrate found his response was "inappropriate" and he was not acting in self-defence.
The man, the former partner of the 49-year-old's daughter, was spared jail and sentenced to an 18-month intensive corrections order of his own.
In a police interview, played in court in November, the man described being alerted by lights outside his home as he was trying to sleep.
He told investigators three people smashed their way inside, assaulted him and threw his phone to the ground while he was calling police for help.
"I thought it was life and death now," he said.
The man told police he grabbed a small knife during a scuffle in the kitchen, before he escaped outside to hide behind a nearby car.
As the group left the home and gathered near another vehicle, the man approached them and a second altercation began during which the woman was stabbed in the chest and the teenager suffered a knife wound to his leg.
CCTV footage played to the court in November showed the boy screaming "I've been stabbed".
The man had told police the teenager was armed with a large pole and the woman had used a brick to break into the house.
During the police interview, investigators said it appeared the man was the "victim" up until he set upon the group following his initial escape and at that point he had taken matters into his own hands.
And, ultimately, Magistrate Hockey found he was not acting in self-defence after the initial break-in and found him guilty on all counts.
Mr Hockey had said the woman, the boy and a third person had decided to pay the man a visit for some "retribution" after he had an argument with his girlfriend and assaulted her a few days earlier before sending intimidating text messages.
The boy was charged with aggravated break and enter and was last before the children's court.
