A woman who stabbed her boyfriend as he lay in bed following a row has escaped a jail term.

Ekatrina Sinclair plunged the blade into the chest of Benjamin Peduzie after quizzing him about seeing other women when they had split up.

But after hearing how the 23-year-old had threatened to take her own life a judge at Swindon crown court spared her a jail term.

Claire Marlow said the couple had just got together following the break up when the assault took place in September 2007.

She said they had been to the pub on the Sunday night and went back to his flat where they were watching television.

“During the course of watching TV she began asking him what he had done about other girls during the time they were not together,” she said.

“He described her mood changed. She started hitting him and punching him. He says he pushed her away a number of times to get away from her.

“He says she went to the kitchen. He was in the bedroom. He heard the cutlery drawer open.

“She came into the bedroom with a bread knife and with a stabbing motion downwards she hit him with the knife.”

Miss Marlow said he was not entirely aware of what was happening but suffered a single stab wound to the chest.

Sinclair called for an ambulance and both told how the injury had been caused accidentally as they were arguing.

Mr Peduzie stuck to that story for a few days but the court heard he changed his mind when he realised how serious the wound was.

As a result of the stabbing he needed five stitches to the cut which did not enter his abdominal cavity.

Sinclair, of Brewers Lane, Calne, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding.

Michael Cullum, defending, said that the couple had been arguing before the incident.

There had been along delay between the stabbing and his client being sentenced, he said, which was not of Sinclair’s making.

He said she had struggled with the stress of the case and her mother had effectively been babysitting her for months.

She had also been made redundant from her job during that time and is on medication for depression.

“In the heat of the moment she picked up a knife. It opened her up to the fear that in the heat of the argument someone could get injured, and he was,” he said.

Passing sentence Judge Charles Wade said “You have pleaded guilty to this serious assault during the course of what clearly was a very heated domestic argument with Mr Peduzie and you stabbed him in the chest with a kitchen knife.

“I think I have to say that the dispute it appears was not of such a nature that necessitated you fetching a knife as you did and stabbing Mr Peduzie in the chest.

“There were other ways it seems to me from you withdrawing from the situation without getting a knife and stabbing him. Fortunately the knife wound was not life threatening.”

He imposed a 12 month jail term suspended for two years and ordered her to do 180 hours of unpaid work.