Milka Kingori, 35, of an address in St Peter Port, admitted charges of assault and of causing criminal damage when she appeared in the Magistrate’s Court.
The court was told how police were called to a local care home, where the defendant lived and worked, at about 3pm after concerns had been raised about her welfare as she was threatening to kill herself. She was intoxicated and was detained under the mental health law.
A member of the ambulance service helped her into an ambulance where they sat opposite each other. For no apparent reason the defendant used the back of her hand to slap the other woman’s face and a ring or her nails caused a scratch.
The ambulance worker told officers what had happened and the defendant was transferred to hospital. She was taken to a relatives’ room to keep her away from other people, and there she urinated on the floor.
She then fell asleep on a sofa and was transferred to police custody later.
Two days after the incident she submitted letters of apology to both police and ambulance staff. She had no previous convictions.
Defending, Advocate Sarah Morgan said her client had no recollection of her behaviour due to her level of intoxication.
Her difficulties with alcohol stemmed from longstanding trauma.
The assault was committed in the context of a mental health crisis and the criminal damage at the hospital had been at the lower end of the scale.
Deputy Judge Graeme McKerrell said whenever people assaulted emergency workers the court would almost always look at immediate custody as a starting point for sentence.
‘You had consumed what I can only describe as a Titanic amount of alcohol,’ he said.
‘The Titanic sank and you could have no complaint today if I sank you by sending you to prison.’
The defendant had significant support from her employer, which the judge described as ‘above and beyond’. This was a key factor in why she would not be jailed on this occasion.
For the assault, Kingori was ordered to perform 90 hours’ community service as a direct alternative to six weeks in prison.
She must pay the ambulance worker £750 in compensation. Forty hours as a direct alternative to two weeks, concurrent, was meted for the criminal damage.