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The wife and I went on a bit of a pub-crawl and ended up at Barristers Nightclub. I got a
bit pissed in the process. After a time I went to the toilet and had a tinkle in a cubicle and when I came out Britton was
waiting for me. I went to walk past him and he grabbed me from behind spun me round and tried to force me back into the cubicle
but I managed to prevent that happening by placing a hand on each side of the doorway. Next there was a flurry of movement
and I found myself on the floor of the toilets with the ape sitting on my chest with one hand on my throat. He then proceeded
to squeeze my throat and cut my air off. He continued choking me until a bouncer who had been summoned by another toilet user
dragged him off.
Louise Anne
Bell, 42, was sentenced in the High Court at Wellington yesterday to three years in prison for trying to strangle a medical
professional at Good Health Wanganui's Te Awhina mental health unit. Bell, who
suffers from borderline personality disorder and major depressive disorder, was a patient at the unit. A jury found
her guilty after a trial at the High Court in Wanganui in September. It was the
second time she had been convicted of attempted murder. In 2002 she was jailed for 12 months after trying to suffocate a semi-comatose
friend who had earlier attempted to commit suicide. Bell's lawyer,
Lance Rowe, said she was reacting to stress following a "substantial" period of hospitalisation. She had just been released
into the community. Her usual reaction to stress was to harm herself but on this occasion she had hit out at the medical professional,
whose name was suppressed. Bell was being
treated for her illnesses, but because of her extreme reaction to stress and likelihood of harming herself would have to be
kept under virtual solitary confinement if sent to prison, Mr Rowe said. However, Crown
prosecutor Andrew Cameron said the community had to be protected from Bell until treatment had lowered the risk of her re-offending.
Justice Wild
said Bell choked the medical professional for 10 to 15 seconds until she was pulled away by a passing staff member. Bell apologised
for her actions a few minutes later, but staff at Te Awhina had now been issued with panic pendants and panic buttons were
being installed, Justice Wild said. Though Bell
had a continuing problem of dealing with unexpected episodes of anger, a psychiatric assessment found that she did not need
to be hospitalised, but could be treated in prison or in the community. It was expected
she would need up to two years of therapy before the risk of further offending was significantly reduced. In deciding
the length of her sentence, Justice Wild took into account that the offence was not premeditated, her victim was not injured
and no weapon was used.
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