A MOTHER-of-three whose ex-boyfriend feared for his life after she stabbed him in the chest with an 11-inch kitchen knife in a Newport street, has been jailed for 20 months.

Twenty-one year-old Elise Robertson also held the knife to the face of a teenage girl and, Newport Crown Court was told, chased another man around a parked car while shouting that she would kill him.

The incidents happened in Duckpool Road, Maindee, Newport, on Saturday October 1 this year after Robertson, ex-boyfriend Bradley Bullock and three other, younger, companions had returned to her home following a night out in Cardiff.

Prosecuting counsel Julian Greenwood told the court of an argument the following morning, with Robertson making accusations that Mr Bullock had lain on a bed with one of the aforementioned companions, a teenage girl.

Though Mr Bullock said there was nothing sinister about it, Robertson lost her temper. After the others left to go a shop, she followed them into Duckpool Road, having armed herself with the knife.

"A pet food shop owner on Duckpool Road opened at around 8.30am and noticed Elise Robertson outside, apparently shouting at the group and in possession of a knife," said Mr Greenwood.

After taking hold of the teenage girl in the group and pointing the knife in her face, Robertson approached Mr Bullock and the shop owner told police the knife "flew out" and his hand was bleeding.

Mr Greenwood said other witnesses saw Robertson waving the knife at people, and a taxi driver told police that Mr Bullock had "a gaping chest wound," said Mr Greenwood.

Robertson later told police Mr Bullock had been picking on her teenage brother, and she had not done anything.

In a statement to police, Mr Bullock said "she pulled a knife on me" and described being afraid for his life.

He needed 10 stitches in the chest wound and a further 12 stitches in his hand, and said since the incident had been afraid to go out.

Judge Philip Harris-Jenkins was told in Robertson's defence that she had recently had her third child, and there were concerns about post-natal depression and other mental health problems.

Her recollection of the incident was hazy, but she accepted what witnesses said they saw, that she had consumed alcohol and other substances. She had expressed remorse, and was disgusted with herself.

Judge Harris-Jenkins sentenced Roberston to 20 months in prison for wounding. Further sentences of 12 months for affray and eight months for possessing an offensive weapon will run concurrently.

"It is clear from the scenes observed that you were in a rage and upset, but your behaviour was absolutely unacceptable," said Judge Harris-Jenkins.

He acknowledged issues raised in a pre-sentence report that had caused depression and mild post-traumatic stress disorder, and that she had suffered post-natal depression.

But he said this was a knife crime in a public place, and an immediate jail term was necessary.