A former police officer, who claimed she suffers from PTSD and frontal lobe damage, was sentenced to prison for attacking her elderly neighbors with weapons while telling them she was going to kill them, according to a report.
Paulta Attwood-Rees grabbed a metal pole, two knives, and a cattle prod before breaking into her elderly neighbors' home and attacking them, the BBC reported. She punched Jacqueline Teague, 69, breaking her nose and slashing her wrist before turning her attention to her husband, Chris, 70, attacking him with a cattle prod and a knife.
The ex-cop continued attacking the couple after they ran outside. Attwood-Rees whacked her neighbor over the head for trying to call the police and sent her buckling to the ground. She also used a shovel from their yard to destroy two nearby cars.
The assault ended when passersby stopped to help the couple and called police officers who were finally able to restrain and arrest Attwood-Rees after she also kicked an officer, according to the BBC.
In court, the prosecutor relayed that the couple thought they were going to be murdered. They have since moved out of their home, which they lived in for nearly 40 years, because they felt unsafe, and said they now feel nervous in new places and are not sleeping.
The judge called Attwood-Rees "violent and abusive" despite her claims of PTSD after serving with South Wales Police and of a frontal lobe injury, which can affect decision-making, deregulate emotions, and alter personalities.
"You could not be reasoned with," the judge said in court, according to the BBC. "Despite being a retired police officer, you treated them and your former colleagues with contempt. You caused people to sustain serious injuries, which will stay with them for years."
She was sentenced to six years and two months, and two-thirds of her sentence will be served in prison while the rest will be on probation. She is also banned from ever contacting the couple.
Originally published by Latin Times
