A Dundee woman who held a pair of scissors to the throat of a Good Samaritan who gave her shelter has been jailed for three years.
Lisa Diduca punched her terrified victim on the head after the woman discovered the 29-year-old upset in the street and invited her to her house.
A Dundee Sheriff Court trial heard that Diduca then stole a number of items before fleeing Jacqueline Petrie’s home.
In her closing speech, prosecutor Eilidh Robertson told the jury: “Theevidence in this case points to MissDiduca taking advantage of Mrs Petrie, a kind-hearted stranger who offered her support and companionship when she found her distressed in the street in the early hours of the morning.”
Anne Duffy, defending, said her client was a mother-of-two going through an acrimonious split from her partner and had gone to meet a friend that night.
Mrs Duffy said Diduca was not usedto drinking, had only one previousconviction on indictment and knew she would receive a custodial sentence.
Diduca, of Arklay Terrace, was found guilty by a majority verdict after a four-day trial, of seizing Jacqueline Petrie by the hair, punching her on the head,holding a pair of scissors to her neck and robbing her of a number of itemsincluding a laptop, money and clothing.
Jailing Diduca for three years, Sheriff Alastair Brown told her: “Mrs Petrie saw you upset and crying and she went to help you. She did you nothing but good. She gave you shelter in her own home.
“She was, in every sense, a Good Samaritan to you and you repaid her by assaulting her in her own home.In particular you took a large pair of scissors and held them to her neck and placed her in a state of terror.
“She was distraught. She was off work for four weeks. She suffers continuous feelings of violation and insecurity.Far from showing any remorse, in your police statement you accused her of drunkenness, of lying and of having a mental disorder.
“Robbing someone at the point of a weapon will always attract a serioussentence. Nothing excuses grabbing a woman in her own home, puttingscissors to her neck and robbing her.”