Family dispute led to Toowoomba woman choking her sister-in-law

The defendant normally ran from confrontation but on this day she had “snapped” and grabbed her sister-in-law by the throat.

The court heard the defendant woman was regretful and remorseful.

A Toowoomba woman who strangled her sister-in-law to the point her vision had blurred has been spared actual jail time.

The 26-year-old woman, who cannot be named due to domestic violence orders, had been invited to her pregnant sister-in-law’s Westbrook home on February 25 last year, Toowoomba District Court heard.

When a pre-existing argument escalated, the woman had approached and pushed her sister-in-law who pushed back, Crown prosecutor Ellen Fletcher told the court.

When the victim’s sister stepped in, she was pushed out of the way, and the woman grabbed her sister-in-law by the throat to the point the victim was unable to breathe and she momentarily lost her vision, the court heard.

Ms Fletcher said not only did the defendant know her sister-in-law was six months pregnant at the time, but her actions had been played out in front of the victim’s children and sister.

The victim had been examined by her doctor after the event who found she and her unborn child had no negative effects, the court heard.

The woman pleaded guilty to strangulation in a domestic setting.

Her barrister David Jones said his client had no criminal history at all and had always run from confrontation.

His client had been bullied most of her life, and in the lead-up to this incident she had been bullied online.

The threat of not being able to see her nieces and nephews was at the of the dispute between the parties and added to her depression and anxiety, his client had “snapped”, he said.

Judge Dennis Lynch QC said the defendant was caught by the wider definition of domestic violence and that he accepted she was remorseful.

He sentenced her to 12 months in jail but suspended the term for two years.