Judith Allan: 90-year-old granny wrapped her husband’s head in plastic

A 90-year-old woman wound the plastic sandwich wrap around her husband’s head as he slept after she reached ‘the end of her tether’ with him.

After 50 years in an abusive marriage, a 90-year-old grandmother wrapped her husband’s head in Glad Wrap as he slept to “frighten him”.

Judith Ethel Allan, 90, faced Moss Vale Local Court this week after pleading guilty to choking her husband without consent by wrapping his head in Glad Wrap.

On the night of January 24, the Moss Vale resident found she couldn’t sleep and went for a long walk. She had been caring for her husband following a knee surgery a few months prior and he was fully reliant upon her.

According to the court documents, the victim was fully capable of assisting in household duties but preferred to leave them to his wife.

When Mrs Allan came home at about 7am, she found her husband asleep in their bed.

There had been no record of domestic violence in the relationship prior to this incident. Picture: AAP Image/Joel Carrett

Mrs Allan took a 52cm long strip of Glad Wrap from the kitchen and wrapped it around her husband’s head before he woke up to his wife standing over him.

The victim didn’t have trouble breathing or lose consciousness, although he did move interstate after the incident.

When asked by police why she’d plastic wrapped her husband’s head, Mrs Allan maintained she wanted to “frighten him”, according to court documents. She initially tried to tell police that she’d wrapped her husband in blankets and sheets to keep him warm, but eventually admitted to police it was plastic wrap.

She told police she was “umming and ahhing about whether I could go through with it or not”, the court papers state.

Her lawyer Michael Doughty argued Mrs Allan had endured a long and unhealthy relationship, and she snapped.

“This was a relationship dominated by coercive control on her husband’s part,” he said.

“My client came to the end of her tether.”

The couple have been married for 50 years. The court heard the marriage was characterised by psychological abuse, resulting in Mrs Allan being cut off from friends and family.

Judith Ethel Allan was in hospital three hours after charges were laid. Picture: AAP Image/Joel Carrett

A medical report revealed Mrs Allan was diagnosed with acute stress syndrome, which Magistrate Mark Douglass said explained her impulsive behaviour.

“People under acute stress make poor decisions,” he said.

Mr Doughty argued his client’s longstanding clean record shows it was a one-time occurrence.

“Ninety years of good character holds her in good stead with the court,” he said.

He also told the court his client’s life is now full of many people who weren’t able to be there for her before.

“There is much support now that wasn’t possible because of the nature of the relationship,” he said.

Magistrate Douglass assessed the “very serious” nature of the offence and ultimately agreed it was a unique event.

“This is a one-off, highly out of character and will not happen again,” he said.

Mrs Allan was sentenced to a community corrections order for two years and an apprehended violence order for her husband was enacted for the same period.