AN ARMIDALE woman who stabbed a distant cousin in the back in a drunken argument has walked free from prison just weeks out from giving birth.
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Allarnna Jade Manager was released from Dillwynia Correction Centre near Sydney this week after time served for the late-night stabbing in Armidale in March.
Manager, 29, has been behind bars since her arrest at the Hargrave St unit block on March 10. She was charged by Armidale detectives after attacking the 29-year-old man several times in the back and hand inside the unit.
Shortly after going into custody, Armidale Local Court was told she was pregnant and due to give birth in late-September.
In her sentencing this week, Magistrate Michael Holmes was shown photos of the man’s injuries and an expert’s report which he described as “serious”.
”The stab wound in the back could have had very nasty repercussions,” he said.
"There could could have been potentially, potentially, terrible consequences as a result of your actions.”
Manager pleaded guilty to reckless wounding and assault occasioning actual bodily harm after a wounding with intent charge was withdrawn by prosecutors.
The stab wound in the back could have had very nasty repercussions.
- Magistrate Michael Holmes
“Ms Manager has had a rather traumatic and problematic upbringing in … what I can say is her teenage years,” Legal Aid solicitor Wendy McAuliffe said.
She said Manager had been abused and “has been on her own” since the age of 16 when she left home.
“[She has] experienced a considerable amount of domestic violence,” she said.
“Not surprisingly she has tried to deal with that … and at times [turned] to substances as a way of dealing with what has happened.”
The court heard on the night of the incident, the distant cousin had been asked to leave her unit and did not, but both had been drinking.
Ms McAuliffe said “partly because of her history, and the frustration”, Manager stabbed the man in the back and attacked his hands, and was “acting in self-defence”.
“But the force she used was excessive, and the appropriate response would have been to call the police,” she said.
Not surprisingly she has tried to deal with that … and at times [turned] to substances as a way of dealing with what has happened.
- Legal Aid solicitor Wendy McAuliffe
Ms McAuliffe said Manager had shown “remorse and regret” and needed assistance. She said Manager “wants to be able to provide to her [child] a life that was not provided to her”.
The court heard Manager, who was on parole at the time of the stabbing for a drug offence, now wants to move to Queensland to live with her family.
Mr Holmes said Manager was “falling into the same trap” that she had been subjected to growing up.
“If you were sober you would have walked away and forgot it,” he said, telling her to stay away from drugs and alcohol.
"You have a problem with cannabis, I see that in the report. These drinking parties always lead to no good.”
Manager was jailed for 18 months with six months non-parole, backdated to her arrest.