Woman jailed after slashing brother's throat during family wake in Wolverhampton

There was no long-standing feud between Sherene and Amir Reid, who is two years younger than his sister, a judge heard.

“This was an incident which all concerned have difficulty explaining,” Mr Andrew Wilkins, defending, told Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Disaster struck after the funeral of the defendant’s uncle while family members ate a meal at the home of a relative in Park Street South in Blakenhall, Wolverhampton, on January 29.

The service had passed without a hitch, as did the wake, until Sherene Reid drank too much, the court was told.

She and some members of the family had not got on very well in the past, said Mr Howard Searle, prosecuting.

He continued: “The victim and others were sitting around the kitchen table and the defendant kept nudging him and saying things like: ‘Come on, hit me.’ He ‘flicked’ her away and she fell on to the floor.

“She had just been given a cup of coffee and, after getting to her feet, instantly smashed the cup over his head cutting an eyebrow.

“Then she got a shard of the broken cup and slashed at her brother’s throat before members of the family pulled her away.”

Mr Reid suffered a nine-and-a-half centimetre long wound which required 18 stitches but did not make a complaint to police against his sister until February 26 for ‘family reasons,’ it was said.

Then the defendant was arrested and admitted she had drunk so much she remembered little or nothing about the incident.

Mr Wilkins maintained the surgeon expected the victim to make a full recovery and explained the defendant had been ‘evicted’ by the family when aged 16 but they still kept in touch.

She also felt they had not supported her at the funeral, continued the lawyer who said of the attack: “This was an isolated incident and completely out of character for her.”

Restaurant worker Sherene Reid, of Broad Street in Wolverhampton city centre, admitted wounding with intent and was sent to prison for two years and eight months by Judge Amjad Nawaz .

He said: “You have led a blameless and respectable life and it is a tragedy you are where you are.

“You were so inebriated you did not know what you had done.

“There is no evidence of you being aggressive during the funeral and wake, apart from the fact you became drunk and slightly loud.

“What followed had a devastating result for both your brother and yourself.”