A woman who has been jailed for two years for trying to attack her husband of 50 years with a carving knife was under significant mental stress as his sole caregiver, a court has heard.
Warning: This article includes details of self-harm. Helplines are provided at the end of the article.
Katherine Mary Hughes pulled a knife on her husband, who was suffering from advanced Parkinson’s disease, in their Christchurch home in 2023 and told him “I’m going to end it for both of us”.
After a struggle, Hughes then plunged the knife into her own chest, was critically injured and spent months in hospital.
The 69-year-old was initially charged with attempted murder but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of attempted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and was sentenced at the High Court at Christchurch on Tuesday.
The court heard she was heavily burdened by her husband Christopher Hughes’ illness and did not see an alternative to taking drastic measures to hurt him and then herself.
In a victim impact statement, Hughes’ daughter Angela Hughes said her mother’s offending still caused her nightmares.
“I still to this day break down in tears at what my dad has been through. She was meant to be a loving wife there for him in better or worse,” she said.
Angela Hughes said she had to take a lot of time off work as a result of her mother’s crime and was made redundant during a recent restructure.
“I’m constantly afraid of what will happen when she is released from prison. Will she hunt him down and try to hurt him again or worse?” she said.
Crown lawyer Penny Brown said Christopher Hughes was highly vulnerable and entirely dependent on his wife for his care.
“He should have been safe in his own home and he should’ve been safe when he went to bed that early evening and was asleep. Yet [Katherine] Hughes taking a large carving knife from the kitchen into bedroom breached that trust,” she said.
Hughes’ lawyer Olivia Jarvis said her client was in a highly distressed state at the time of the offending.
“Mrs Hughes has outlined over time she had lost perspective of life outside of their home, her focus had been everything that had been happening there. She wasn’t able to care for him … ultimately, the catalyst for the offending was build up of stress and inability to allow other people to come in and assist. She lost all ability to see that as the most rational option,” she said.
Jarvis said Hughes had already spent two years in custody on remand.
According to the summary of facts, at about 6.20pm on February 1, 2023, Christopher Hughes was sleeping when he woke to find his wife sitting on the edge of his bed shaking, holding a large carving knife.
She said “I’m going to end it for both of us”, and raised the knife above her head.
The summary said Christopher Hughes’ grabbed his wife by the wrists and they wrestled to gain control of the knife but, due to his poor health, he found it difficult to disarm her.
He managed to knock the knife out of her hand and triggered his St John monitored alarm to call for help.
Katherine Hughes picked up the knife and started swinging a stick vacuum cleaner at her husband. She then stabbed herself in the chest, the blade narrowly missing her heart.
Police and St John arrived and she was taken to Christchurch Hospital in a critical condition.
Christopher Hughes’ only injury was cuts to his hands during the struggle.
Justice Jonathan Eaton said Hughes’ offending was not motivated by love or passion for her husband and there was no suggestion he was in pain or discomfort such that he had given up the will to live.
“Your motivation was to end your own suffering, and you blamed Mr Hughes at least in part for that suffering,” he said.
“I have no doubt you were exhausted, desperate… but you were not acting out of mercy for Mr Hughes.”
Justice Eaton acknowledged Hughes had shown some remorse, but said it was clear she continued to feel resentful towards her husband.
He sentenced her to two years imprisonment, with the Parole Board to determine her release.
rnz.co.nz
