Boyup Brook woman Jane Margaret Mitchell ordered to complete community service after stabbing twin sister

A 59-year-old Boyup Brook woman has been ordered to complete 40 hours of community service after stabbing her twin sister in the thigh when she wouldn’t stop kicking her legs. Jane Margaret Mitchell appeared in Collie Magistrates Court on Wednesday and was placed on a 12-month intensive supervision order with community service after pleading guilty to unlawful wounding. The court was told Mitchell and her twin sister were staying in a Collie motel and were drinking wine together on October 15, 2021, when Mitchell’s sister began kicking the back of Mitchell’s legs. Despite being asked to stop, her sister continued kicking Mitchell’s legs, prompting her to go to the motel room’s kitchen, grab a knife and stab her sister in the thigh. Immediately realising what she had done, Mitchell tended to the small wound by wrapping her sister’s leg in a towel and calling an ambulance. The court was told the victim’s wound required four stitches. In an interview with police Mitchell made full admissions to the offence, telling officers “I just wanted her to stop kicking me”. In submissions, Mitchell’s duty lawyer Derek Hunter said the sisters were staying in a motel together to have a short getaway at the time of the incident. It was also submitted Mitchell had since acknowledged that her alcohol abuse had become a problem and she wanted to seek counselling or take part in programs to address the issue. In sentencing, Magistrate Joanne Andretich acknowledged Mitchell’s offending was not premeditated but was still a deliberate act.