A south-west woman has been ordered to do unpaid community work after she attacked another woman with a shovel.
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Janelle Beaton, 36, previously of Cobden and now of Warrnambool, pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court to criminal damage and two counts of unlawful assault.
The court heard Beaton was at her uncle's house in Jancourt's Beatons Road on November 11 last year when she became angry, grabbed a shovel and screamed at her uncle's partner before attacking her.
She struck the victim with the bladed shovel edge, stabbing her to the upper right arm and causing a small cut and a large bruise.
She then struck the victim a second time using the flat side of the shovel, causing a red mark and minor bruising to her hip.
Beaton then used the shovel to push her uncle in the chest, causing him to fall over.
Two days later, she attended another family member's property in Cobden's Silvester Street, removed a loose brick and threw it through the front window, causing damage.
Lawyer Ian Pugh submitted to the court a psychological report that revealed Beaton had been admitted to a mental health facility around the same time as the offending.
Magistrate Mark Stratmann said the incident would have been "terrifying for the people involved".
"You've entered a property and you've assaulted people and you've done it in a way that you've injured them," he said. "It's the kind of offending that can have people sent to prison.
"In my view you're extremely fortunate that you didn't injure these people in ways more serious than bruises to the arm and leg. Had that been the case you would be in a vastly different position."
Beaton was placed on a 12-month corrections order with conditions she do 80 hours of unpaid community work and undergo treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, and mental health issues.
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