Playground stabbing: Michelle Allison Fernandez jailed for five years for attack on ex-husband
Updated
A 43-year-old woman who stabbed her former husband in front of their child near a busy Perth playground has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail.
Nurse and mother of two, Michelle Allison Fernandez, attacked Mark Fernandez after handing over the child at the Shelley foreshore in October 2015.
Mr Fernandez was left with his intestines hanging out of his body and severe cuts to the nerves and tendons in his hands.
He spent 28 days in hospital and was confined to a wheelchair for four months as a result of his injuries.
In January, a District Court jury convicted Fernandez of grievous bodily harm.
At her trial, she had argued her former husband was the one who brought the knife to the park and she was forced to defend herself.
But in sentencing, Judge Michael Bowden said he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that she brought the knife to the park, although he was not satisfied she had intended to stab the victim until moments before the "brutal attack".
Judge Bowden accepted she was an intelligent, well-educated and hard-working woman, with no criminal history and was of prior good character.
There were gasps from her family in court as she was sentenced, and outside the court they told the media "she is innocent".
Fernandez will be eligible for parole after serving three-and-a half years' jail.
Judge Bowden also imposed a lifetime restraining order.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, perth-6000, wa
First posted
