Man picked up kitchen knife during row with sister over sending phone pictures

A woman was left feeling unsafe in her own flat after her brother assaulted her and picked up a kitchen knife in a row.

Brandon Hall and his sister had been out drinking and ordered a takeaway at her home before he criticised her for sending pictures on her phone.

“She pushed him. She wanted him to leave. He picked up a nine-inch kitchen knife, holding it at arm’s length,” prosecutor David Crook told Teesside Crown Court.

“She feared for her safety, saying ‘get out, it’s my flat’.”

A neighbour heard the screaming and Hall barged past her as he left the flats on January 20.

When asked what he was doing, the 20-year-old said: “I wish I could do it.”

He went back into the Billingham flat still carrying the knife and his sister was heard shouting: “I love you.”

Hall grabbed and shook his sister while she called her father. He was arrested when police arrived.

He said he had thoughts about harming himself but had no intention of hurting his sister.

Hall denied being violent in the past.

In a victim impact statement, she said she had to move out of the family home because of her brother’s aggression and violence towards her.

She had only been in the flat a week before the incident and said she felt threatened and unsafe, as “if my own brother can do this to me, it makes me think what can others do”.

Hall, of Sedgemoor Way, Billingham, admitted common assault and having a bladed article. He had previous assaults on his record.

Eric Watson, defending, said unemployed Hall had “considerable emotional difficulties” and lacked structure in his life, combined with alcohol misuse.

He said Hall took the knife to harm himself and grabbed his sister to hug or comfort her, though he accepted it was an assault.

“He accepts the complainant must have been terrified,” added Mr Watson.

The judge, Recorder Eric Elliott QC, told the defendant: “It is only by good fortune that you stand here facing the two charges rather than even more serious charges involving the use of a knife.

“Incidents like this can well escalate and result in tragedy and lead to the loss of life.”

He drew back from custody as the Probation Service wanted to help Hall with his “great personal difficulties”.

He passed a one-year community order with supervision and 100 hours’ unpaid work, saying this was in both Hall’s and the public interest.