'Do your job:' Woman's courtroom outburst at magistrate over Port Kembla violence

Angela Knapton, 42, has remained behind bars since the October 19, 2023 incident at Port Kembla in which the victim, a man she had been in a relationship with for three months, lost the top of his finger.

Knapton dialled into Wollongong Local Court on Thursday and voiced she wanted the matter finalised swiftly after she pleaded guilty to being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

"It's been eight months your Honour, I've had enough in here. I want it heard today," the Ashfield woman said.

"You don't decide that, I do. In any event, I may need to order a (background) report which may be in your interest," Magistrate Mark Douglass replied.

Knapton appeared agitated and unleashed a verbal tirade from the audio-visual link suite.

"That's not good enough. I need a f---ing guilty plea and a sentence today. To get it adjourned is not the instructions," she yelled.

"So could you please do your job and sentence me today? You've got all my medical evidence in front of you."

The magistrate told Knapton he would mute her audio if her "rude" interruptions continued.

Knapton and the victim's short relationship was marred by alcohol abuse and violence, which escalated when an argument erupted when they were watching television last October.

Knapton began punching and kicking the man before she started smashing beer bottles in the kitchen.

After ignoring several requests to leave the unit, the man attempted to remove Knapton by dragging her down the hallway, however she got back up.

The man stuck his hand in a door frame in a bid to stop Knapton from slamming it and at some point during the altercation, the man lost the top of his right index finger.

Knapton armed herself with a broken beer bottle by smashing the end and hit the victim in the face with it, causing cuts to his forehead, face and back of the neck.

Police arrived shortly after and found the victim with the cuts and an open wound to his finger, with the tip unable to be found. He was taken to hospital.

Knapton was arrested and taken to hospital with cuts to her foot, before she was returned to custody the next day.

Defence lawyer Alyce Fisher said Knapton had also fallen victim to abuse at the hands of the man and that he choked and assaulted her on previous occasions.

Magistrate Douglass said the matter was spontaneous, but serious, as Knapton created a makeshift weapon and attacked the man in his home, a place he should have felt safe.

Knapton continued to interrupt the magistrate as he read out his decision. He made it clear to Knapton that her comments "have not influenced my sentence one bit."

Knapton was jailed for 14 months with a non-parole period of seven months. With time served taken into account, she will become eligible for release in eight days.