Normanton woman Letisha Harries sentenced for stabbing a man because ‘he was supposed to be home looking after the kids’

The woman immediately said she knew “she had done a bad thing” and told police “I just want to be punished.”

The court heard she found the man asleep inside the house, where she kicked him and yelled at him for drinking and not being home “looking after the kids.”

A woman told police she “wanted to be punished” for knifing a man because he was out drinking rather than watching her kids, a Cairns court has heard.

35-year-old Normanton woman, Letisha Harries, pleaded guilty to one count of wounding and was sentenced in the Cairns District Court.

It was alleged Ms Harries had attended an address in Mareeba looking for a 40-year-old Normanton man who had been supposed to stay at her house the previous night.

The court heard she found the man asleep inside the house, where she kicked him and yelled at him for drinking and not being home “looking after the kids.”

The court heard he then followed her as she walked into the kitchen and she then picked up a knife in the kitchen and stabbed him on the left side of his chest.

The court heard the woman had “made most of her time” at Townsville Women's Correctional Centre by undertaking several courses. Picture: Zak Simmonds

He was taken to Cairns Hospital with a three centimetre wound, which required a blood transfusion.

The court heard in the meantime, at the Mareeba address, police arrived to find Ms Harries in her car and saw dried blood on her front console.

Ms Harries immediately said she knew “she had done a bad thing” and then said, “I just want to be punished”.

Police arrested her, and she went on to spend 333 days in custody, mostly at Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre, right up until the day she faced sentencing in court.

In handing down his sentence, Judge Gregory Lynham said not only had Ms Harries expressed remorse at the scene, but she had also written a letter of apology to the court and had “made good use of her time in custody”.

He also told the court, “I am sure you appreciate, and judging by your reaction, you knew your offending was very serious. One of the difficulties with using knives and the damage they inflict is they can be fatal. The area where you inflicted the injury, it’s not too difficult to imagine that if you used enough force, you might have pierced his heart or a major organ”.

He sentenced her to two and a half years imprisonment with an immediate parole release date.

“I want to make sure you are never tempted to pick up a knife again,” he said.

Originally published as Normanton woman Letisha Harries sentenced for stabbing a man because ‘he was supposed to be home looking after the kids’