Officers charge woman over stabbing of her ex-boyfriend 20 years ago

A WOMAN will appear in court after allegedly stabbing her ex-boyfriend in 1997 — she’d been waiting for her cut of child support payments.

Tamara Roberts allegedly stabbed her boyfriend 20 years ago. Picture: Facebook

SOME couples are prepared to let bygones be bygones when they break up, but not Adrian Rutley.

Mr Rutley had his former girlfriend Tamara Stephanie Roberts charged this week after alleging she stabbed him almost 20 years ago after a fight over child support payments at a friend’s barbecue.

After an on-off relationship that lasted more than two decades and produced five children, Mr Rutley and Ms Roberts broke up late last year.

But instead of moving on, Mr Rutley went to Lismore Police Station to report that Ms Roberts, 39, had stabbed him in 1997.

Asked by the police why he didn’t report the attack in 1997, Mr Rutley said it was “because he was still in love with her and believed he could work things out”.

But after their latest break-up, Mr Rutley decided the relationship was over for good so he decided to report the matter.

Roberts is now facing a charge of maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in jail.

Her lawyer, Abdul Reslan, said it was highly unusual for police to lay charges for an alleged incident of this nature after two decades and he would be exploring whether his client can receive a fair trial.

“The Director of Public Prosecutions will be approached to review this matter,” Mr Reslan said. “However, in the event the matter proceeds, the charges will be vigorously defended.”

Roberts can still be charged after such a long time has elapsed because there is no statute of limitations on indictable offences.

It is uynderstood that many of the original police who worked on the case have since retired and are unable to be located.

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According to police documents, the officers decided the charges could be laid because medical records and expert statements corroborated Mr Rutley’s account that he had been admitted to Lismore Base Hospital in 1997 suffering a stab wound.

At the time, Mr Rutley refused to speak to police, the documents said.

That changed on September 19, 2016, when Mr Rutley told police that he had been at a friend’s barbecue at Gundarimba, near Lismore, on March 11, 1997, when Roberts arrived and demanded he pay her money for child support for their daughter.

Mr Rutley claims he told Roberts he had no money and that soon afterwards she snuck up and stabbed him in the back.

He turned around to see his friend holding Roberts “in a bear hug”, police documents claim.

Mr Rutley spent several weeks in hospital recovering from his injuries.

Roberts is due to face Lismore Local Court on September 18