Woman found guilty of stabbing man with broken wine glass in "terrifying" attack

Wednesday 24 May 2023

A 58-year-old woman who stabbed a man in the neck with a broken wine glass - and claimed she acted in self-defence - has been found guilty of grave and criminal assault.

Jurors at the Royal Court unanimously found Kathryn Mary Mallet guilty of what was described as an "unprovoked and terrifying" attack on Tuesday, after a two-day trial.

Mallet was said to have smashed the glass against a coffee table before attacking the man in a flat in St. Helier on the evening of 8 March last year. The victim was left with a wound in his neck, a cut to his lip and scratches.

Mallet, the victim and another male friend had been drinking together and the victim had fallen asleep in an armchair.

When he awoke, the victim asked where his tobacco was. Mallet shouted at him. When he said, "Oh shut up, Katy", she picked up the glass and stabbed him with it.

The victim called the police but when they arrived at 20:15 Ms Mallet and the other man had both left.

Pictured: The trial took place over two days in the Royal Court this week.

However Advocate Preston said there was clear evidence of an attack.

"Blood was splattered on armchair and the door and doorway. Police found fragments of glass on the coffee table and the rest of the glass in the bin."

And he added: "Her reaction was so over the top that it cannot, in the Crown’s view, be self-defence. There was no justification for what she did that day."

Giving evidence from behind a screen on the first day of the trial on Monday, the victim said Mallet had become abusive towards him when he had woken up.

He said: "The glass had been sitting there for weeks. It was manky. She picked it up and smashed it as she walked round the table, and pushed it into my neck twice."

Despite his injury, he was able to get to his feet, explaining: "I was in 'flight mode'. I was just trying to get out of that flat. When she stabbed me, that was me out of there."

But Mallet denied the charge of grave and criminal assault. She said the alleged victim had attacked her first and she had instinctively picked up the first implement that came to hand to defend herself.

She said: "I didn’t stab him, I hit him. I didn’t realise what I’d hit him with.

"I didn’t know what he was capable of. It was the only way I could protect myself."

Advocate Nicholas Miere, defending, suggested that the victim had been aggressive towards Ms Mallet first. He said: "You were so aggressive that my client felt threatened."

He replied: "I swear on my daughter’s life I didn’t do anything to her."

The advocate added: "She had no intention to do serious harm. She picked up the nearest object to hand. Do you agree with that?"

The victim said: "No."

The Royal Court heard during the trial that Police officers who went to the flat that evening had found broken glass in the bin and paper stained with blood.

During cross-examination, Crown Advocate Mike Preston, prosecuting, put it to Mallet: "It was you who put the glass in the bin and mopped up some of the blood, and then you scarpered. Who else could have put the glass in the bin?"

He also questioned her claim that the victim had knocked over the coffee table, causing the glass to break on the floor, as shards of glass were found on top of the table and ashtrays on the table were still full.

In his closing speech to the jury of six men and six women, Advocate Preston argued that Mallet was "not a reliable witness".

He said: "Someone must have done some cleaning up. Someone put that broken glass in the bin."

And he told the jurors: "Even if you do think the victim provoked her, her reaction was definitely not proportionate and definitely not reasonable.

"The injury could have been fatal."

Mallet was remanded in custody for sentencing on 18 September. Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae was presiding.