A woman who was undergoing a psychotic episode when she stabbed a stranger to death has been given an eight-year prison sentence.
Christina Anderson will also be required to work with probation services and engage with psychiatric treatment for four years after she is released or she will face a further three years in custody.
The State also accepted that cannabis intoxication "does not feature" in the offence despite telling the jury during her trial that a central issue was whether Anderson's actions were driven by mental illness or by cannabis intoxication. She remarked that she committed a "fatal attack of a ferocious nature" on a defenceless man who she did not know as he sat in his car. Anderson then went home but returned a short time later and stabbed Mr Kelly while he lay on the ground.
At last month's hearing Mr O'Higgins outlined what he said was evidence of the "complete destruction" of his client's rational mind in the weeks and months before the stabbing. Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Brenda Wright diagnosed Anderson with bipolar affective disorder and gave the opinion that she was suffering from a psychotic episode at the time of the killing. Dr Wright said Anderson falsely believed that Mr Kelly was a threat to her and her family and that by stabbing him she was protecting her family.
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