A Dundee woman who threw a kitchen knife at her son’s chest after his 18th birthday party has avoided a jail term.
Susan Barron, 36, of Fettercairn Drive, committed the offence against her son Jordan Barron on September 15 last year.
She had admitted at Dundee Sheriff Court that she culpably and recklessly threw a knife on Candle Lane, striking her son on the body to his severe injury and to the danger of his life.
At a previous hearing, the court heard the party continued into a second day.
At about noon, Jordan was slurring his words and became emotional when his mother became angry and told the others at the party to leave.
Depute fiscal Trina Sinclair said Barron entered the bedroom where her son was and then left again.
She returned to the bedroom carrying two knives in her hand one was a large silver kitchen knife and the other a smaller kitchen knife.
Ms Sinclair said the accused dropped the large knife and then picked it up again and threw it in her son’s direction from 2m.
She said: “It hit him in the chest and there was a wound where it had struck him that was bleeding heavily.
“She became hysterical and ran out of the flat.
“She was heard in the close shouting ‘I’ve just stabbed him’ and ‘what have I done?’
“At about 1pm, police were summoned by paramedics in attendance.
“She was heard shouting, ‘My son, my son, I never meant it’.
“She added ‘he was lying on the bed and I threw a knife at him I thought it would miss him’.
“When she was at the police station she asked if her son was dead and said ‘I’ve killed him’.
The court had heard Jordan was taken by ambulance to Ninewells, where his injuries were described as life-threatening.
He had suffered a stab wound of 1cm in width and during the assessment his condition deteriorated and he had to be anaesthetised. He was also given a blood transfusion.
He was later taken to intensive care and subsequently transferred to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
Sheriff George Way said: “A custodial sentence would be inappropriate in these circumstances.”
He said he was taking into account “the very clear expression of horror and regret when she realised how severely she had injured her son”.
Sheriff Way said he was also taking into account the fact that “from the outset, her son was doing his best not to implicate her he seemed to realise the whole thing had got very badly out of hand”.
Barron was given a two-year supervision requirement and was also given a programme requirement to continue to work with a doctor.