Knife victim hurt again

Court heard man was slashed at Motherwell flat

Carla Cairns lashed out in a panic after childhood friend Ben Plowman began banging on the door of a flat, Hamilton Sheriff Court heard.

Cairns (21) admitted slashing Mr Plowman on the side of the head with a knife in Coursington Tower, Motherwell, on June 20 last year.

Defence agent Diarmid Bruce said a doctor described the wound as minor and the victim himself had sent the lawyer a letter claiming someone else had attacked him.

Mr Bruce said: “He is a childhood friend and doesn’t want his pound of flesh. He arrived under the influence of something and started banging on the door. Ms Cairns had given birth five months before and the child was in the flat. She panicked.”

Sheriff Ray Small told Cairns, of Goldcrest Court, Wishaw: “In the vast majority of cases if you strike someone with a knife you will be sent to custody.

“However, you have next to no criminal record and you were confronted by a man who has been in custody at least three times for violence including the use of knives.

“I accept you were protecting the child and the injury was minimal.”

Cairns must do 135 hours of unpaid work.

Mr Plowman (24), who’s from Newarthill, needed more than 100 stitches after he was found bleeding heavily at Holytown train station in 2012.