Rackel Clark guilty of wounding neighbour in Gympie axe attack

A jury has found a 50-year-old Gympie woman guilty of attacking her neighbour with a tomahawk axe.

Rackel Clark, 50, was found guilty by a jury of one charge of wounding following a two-day trail in Gympie District Court over the attack, which the court was told happened at the man’s Elgin Lane property on April 17, 2020.

A Gympie woman has been jailed over a shock attack on her 47-year-old neighbour with a tomahawk axe on his birthday which left him with a 4-5cm gash on his forearm.

Rackel Clark, 50, was found guilty by a jury on August 2 of one charge of wounding and sentenced to two-and-a-half years jail.

The verdict followed a two-day trial in the Gympie District Court, which heard the attack occurred in the driveway of the man’s Elgin Lane property on April 17, 2020.

The court heard Clark attacked the victim while he was celebrating his 47th birthday with his brother and a friend.

Crown prosecutor Annica Fritz said in her opening statement on Tuesday the complainant was just “minding his own business” when Clark turned up in his front driveway screaming and shouting.

When he walked over to close the gate and tell her to “go away”, she started swinging the axe at him.

Gympie woman Rackel Clark, 50, was found guilty of one charge of wounding after attacking her neighbour with an axe, leaving him with a 5cm gash in his forearm which needed stitches.

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He raised his hands above his head to protect himself and was hit on the left forearm.

The court head the weapon was subsequently found in Clark’s home with the victim’s DNA on it.

The victim’s version of events was disputed in the trial by defence barrister Charles Harris, who in his closing statement told the jury there was reasonable doubt as to how the complainant ended up with his injury.

“Something happened, clearly,” Mr Harris said, but “you can’t be sure what”.

However claims of self-defence of justification on behalf of Clark were rejected by Ms Fritz in her closing statement.

Ms Fritz told the jury the three main witnesses all denied suggestions the complainant had either tried to punch Ms Clark, scuffled with her, or colluded in their stories about the incident.

“The whole story leads to one inevitable conclusion,” she said, calling claims of self defence by Ms Clark “fanciful” and saying the evidence before the jury “leaves no room for doubt”.

Clark was sentenced to two-half-years jail with a parole release date of August 1, 2024.

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