A WOMAN fought for her life after a complete stranger smashed her way into her home and repeatedly stabbed her with a shard of broken glass.

Katy Cox thought she was going to die as Jasmine Duffy strangled her and banged her head on the floor during her terrifying ordeal.

The defendant drove from her Somerset home and carried out the random and motiveless attack in Newport on someone she had never met before.

Duffy was in the grip of a psychotic illness at the time and was “showing signs of paranoid schizophrenia”, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

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The young mother will be detained at a psychiatric hospital after a judge made an order under the Mental Health Act.

Prosecutor Marian Lewis said the victim was confronted by Duffy early in the morning on March 18 after she broke into her home.

She told the court: “Her French doors had been smashed and there were fragments of glass all over the floor.

“The defendant kept repeating, ‘I’m lost, it’s OK.’

“Miss Cox told her to get out of her home but the defendant lunged towards her and pushed her into the hallway.

“It was clear she was holding something but it wasn’t possible to make out what it was.

“It was a piece of broken glass and the defendant used it to stab her repeatedly to the shoulder.

“The victim was understandably terrified and believed she was intent on killing her.

“Her focus was on getting out of her house and away from the defendant.”

Miss Lewis added: “Miss Cox grappled with her. The defendant wrapped her legs around her waist and grabbed her around the neck and started to strangle her.

“She was terrified and unable to breath. She truly believed her life was coming to an end.

“The defendant ordered her not to scream and smashed her head repeatedly against the floor.”

Duffy pulled clumps out of her hair and Miss Cox was finally able to escape her clutches and ran outside to raise the alarm with her neighbours.

When the police arrived, the defendant claimed the property was her home.

In a moving victim impact statement read to the court, Miss Cox told how her ordeal has left her both physically and mentally scarred: “I have never experienced fear like it.

“I keep going over in my mind, ‘Why me?’ She has ruined my life.

“I put on a strong front but it eats me up inside. If I hadn’t fought back to survive, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Duffy, of East Street, Cannington, Bridgwater, pleaded guilty to wounding.

She had no previous convictions.

Julia Cox, mitigating, said her client wished to apologise for the “profound effect” this has had on the victim and her family.

Her barrister said: “She has little recollection of how she got to be in Newport. She had no reason to go there.”

Miss Cox said Duffy had a young family and had suffered from post-natal depression after the birth of her second child.

Judge Michael Fitton QC said: “You committed a serious and sustained assault. You didn’t know your victim and she didn’t know you.

“There is no logical explanation or motive for this unprovoked and violent attack.

“It was a close run thing that you didn’t cause greater harm.”