Valmai Grace Joyce Miller stabbed sister at Wandal

She told her older sister: “I’m going to stab you”, while she held the knife raised in the air and struck it in a downward motion at her chest.

Valmai Grace Joyce Miller, 21, had spent the day drinking with her older sister Jean at the Fitzroy River on April 27, 2024, before they got into an argument about cleanliness in their Wandal residence, Rockhampton District Court heard on April 4, 2025.

A four-centimetre stab wound and one person in prison were the results of two sisters’ drunken arguments over household cleaning responsibilities.

Valmai Grace Joyce Miller, 21, had spent the day drinking with her older sister Jean at the Fitzroy River on April 27, 2024, before they got into an argument about cleanliness in their Wandal residence, Rockhampton District Court heard this month.

Crown prosecutor Cameron Keast said this turned into an abusive argument, with Miller yelling insults at the victim.

He said Miller left at one point but returned and “engaged in a scuffle” with the victim.

Mr Keast said Miller then grabbed a knife – at least 20cm long – from the kitchen counter and said: “I’m going to stab you”, while she held the knife raised in the air and struck it in a downwards motion.

He said Miller did this a few times before she struck the victim in the centre of her chest, causing a four-centimetre laceration, which caused a lung contusion (a bruise on the lung).

Mr Keast said a relative had to intervene to stop the fight.

Valmai Grace Joyce Miller, 21, had spent the day drinking with her older sister Jean at the Fitzroy River on April 27, 2024, before they got into an argument about cleanliness in their Wandal residence, Rockhampton District Court heard on April 4, 2025.

“The defendant told the police ‘I stabbed her because she was going to stab me’,” he said.

Mr Keast said this version was not accepted by the Crown.

Defence barrister Julie Marsden said her client had been exposed to alcohol-fuelled violence during her childhood.

She said Miller now lived with an aunt in Woorabinda, and she was working to fix her relationships with her family, who were “quite cross with her” over the incident.

Ms Marsden said her client was living a transient lifestyle at the time of the stabbing and had drunk too much alcohol that day.

“She took off because she was scared, worried about Jean,” she said.

“She didn’t know how badly she’d hurt her.”

Ms Marsden said Miller, who had started abusing marijuana and alcohol when she was 16, told her “it felt good” to be off drugs and alcohol as a result of 173 days presentence custody.

She said her client admitted to still consuming a bit, but much less than she used to.

Ms Marsden said Miller planned to find a job, hopefully one outdoors.

Miller pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful wounding and was sentenced to two years prison with 173 days presentence custody declared as time already served and immediate release on parole.