Victim 'barricaded herself in room' to flee knife-wielding Sheffield woman

Sheffield Crown Court heard today, March 10, how Cara Goodwin, 31, of Lupton Road, Lowedges, Sheffield, had accused a fellow-tenant of grassing her up to the landlady over smoking in the shared property on Ivy Terrace, Barnsley.

Bev Wright, prosecuting, said: “Another person saw the defendant arriving in a taxi and described her as being very drunk and she kicked the side of a gate at the property and was aggressive and shouting the word ‘grass’.”

Mrs Wright added the complainant was woken as Goodwin ran upstairs screaming and telling her to come out because she wanted a fight,

Goodwin and the complainant ended-up fighting, according to Mrs Wright, and the complainant’s TV was damaged.

But Mrs Wright added Goodwin went to the kitchen and was seen with a bread knife and a carving knife.

Mrs Wright said: “She ran upstairs with them to the complainant’s room and the complainant and another witness barricaded themselves in that room and the defendant is heard saying, ‘I’m going to get her and I don’t care who I have got to go through’.”

The court heard the door to the room suffered damage and police struggled to restrain the defendant and after she was placed in a cell she flicked blood on a wall.

Goodwin, who has previous convictions, pleaded guilty to affray and admitted three counts of damage concerning the TV, the door and the cell after the incident on December 26.

Richard Canning, defending, said Goodwin came off worse in the fight and the incident had not involved a concerted effort to get into the room.

Goodwin was sentenced to six-months of custody suspended for 18 months alongside a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement and a three-month curfew to run on Fridays and Saturdays. Goodwin was also sentenced to a five-year restraining order.

Recorder Kama Melly QC told Goodwin: “People die when knives are picked up in anger and if you had got through the door in the drunken state you were in, or they had opened it, there could have been horrific consequences.”