A Kilwinning woman gave her estranged disabled husband an unwanted present – by battering and hurling death wishes at him when she turned up to give his brother a birthday gift.

Mary Gatherer snapped during a visit to the home former husband James Gatherer shared with his brother Frank in Pennyburn.

Both men are partially sighted and registered blind and Frank also suffers from cerebral palsy.

Mary, 50, began shouting and swearing at James and then attacked him, punching him on the head.

Despite being blind both men recognised Mary’s voice during the melee at their home in Sundrum Place on January 26 this year.

The details emerged this week when Mary, of Kilwinning, appeared in the dock at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court to be sentenced over the incident.

She previously struck a deal with prosecutors which saw her pleading guilty to both charges against her after deletions were made to the assault charge.

She admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner which was likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm by shouting and swearing, in breach of Section 38(1) of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010.

She also admitted assaulting James by punching him to his injury.

Procurator Fiscal Depute Jennifer Harkins explained: “The accused and James Gatherer were in a five-year relationship, which ended in approximately May last year.

“At around 3pm on the date libeled, James and Frank Gatherer were in the locus.

“The accused entered to give Frank Gatherer a birthday present.

“She then shouted, ‘you’re an ‘a*******, a f****** a******* and a f****** idiot and I hope you die’. “She then punched him to the left side of his face.

“All of this was heard by Frank Gatherer, who was aware of the accused’s voice.

“She left the property while the complainer contacted the police and during the call police heard the accused in the background shouting and swearing.”

Mary was detained and taken to Saltcoats police office where she was interviewed and did not reply when cautioned and charged.

Defence Solicitor Advocate Simon Brown said: “She is 50 years old and has never been in trouble before in her life – this is very much a one-off incident.

“Mrs Gatherer’s view of their relationship breakdown is different from the complainer’s - she left to go to a woman’s refuge.” The lawyer said she had gone to the house to give Frank Gatherer a birthday present and asked James about furniture she had left behind when she moved out.

He added: “She was told, ‘you left, you’re getting nothing’.

“She has no intention of ever speaking to him again and is very upset at the age of 50 ending up in court.”

Sheriff Iona McDonald could have caged Mary for up to 12 months for the offence. But she opted to deal with the case in a way which meant Mary, who sobbed in the dock throughout the hearing, walked free from court.

As she placed Mary on a nine-month Community Payback Order which will see her supervised by social workers, she said: “You attend at court as a first offender.

“You will have to cooperate with the social work department and attend there.”