A 68-YEAR-OLD Blackwood woman hit her sister in the face with a tea cup, causing a wound that needed 35 stitches following a “petty sibling argument”, a court heard.

Patricia Morris of Pencoed Avenue was yesterday spared ‘an inevitable prison sentence’ after her sister Christine Doyle, 66, said in a victim impact statement: “I’ve been left scarred for life and will never speak to my sister again. But, I don’t want to see her jailed.”

Cardiff Crown Court heard the incident happened on August 23 last year when the pair were sat outside the static caravans they have next to each other’s at Happy Valley, Porthcawl, drinking tea.

Prosecutor John Probert said they were regular visitors to the site with their families and up until that time “got on perfectly well”.

However, at around 2.30pm, the sisters began arguing after Morris said she was going to take her disabled husband for a shower in the female washrooms – something Mrs Doyle thought was inappropriate.

An argument escalated and the defendant threw her tea over her sister, with Mrs Doyle reciprocating, throwing hers over Morris.

After the defendant asked for her mug back, her sister threw it on the floor, something Mr Probert said upset Morris who “came towards her with the thick, big mug and brought it down on her forehead”.

He said the blow caused two smaller wounds near Mrs Doyle’s jaw and eyebrow, but one down her left cheek bled profusely, after the mug cut through her cheek into the underlying flesh.

After being taken to the Prince of Wales Hospital, Bridgend, Mrs Doyle was transferred to the plastic surgery department of Swansea’s Morriston Hospital, where 35 stitches were inserted in her face.

Defence barrister Joanna James called it a tragic case.

She said: “It was a momentary act of sheer stupidity after what was a petty sibling argument.

“Worse than the loss of her clean character and potential loss of liberty is the loss of her relationship with her sister and sister’s family, something she bitterly regrets.”

Judge Stephen Hopkins called Happy Valley an “ironic” name for the location of the incident, saying the victim impact statement read out was the tipping point in him suspending an ‘inevitable prison sentence’.

He added: “You don’t deserve a sister as generous in spirit as yours.”

After admitting wounding, Morris’s 12-month sentence was suspended for two years.