A Basingstoke mother stabbed her husband after his prank to slash her tyres and film her reaction went horribly wrong. 

Marcelina Tomusiak, 33, flew into a rage after she discovered the state of her car on September 22, 2019, just as she was planning to go on a day trip with her children. 

The court heard how events unfolded on North Lane in Aldershot, Hampshire, after Jacob Tomusiak started filming his 33-year-old wife to capture her reaction and was 'teasing' her. 

Prosecutors told how Marcelina grabbed a kitchen knife in retaliation to try and puncture the tyres on her husband’s grey Lexus car, but the flimsy blade snapped. 

Marcelina, of Selby Walk, in Basingstoke, then went inside their home to get a large kitchen knife, which was described in court as “longer and sharper”.

Judge William Mousley QC told the defendant, who appeared in court with a Polish interpreter: “You were angry and frustrated and as he [your husband] walked alongside the passenger side of his car, he said something. 

"You then looked at him and launched yourself at him, with the knife, holding it above your head in your right hand and swinging it violently towards him on a number of occasions.

“He then turned and was seen to react in pain and arch his back. He pushed you to the ground and you, at that stage, specifically cut his hand with the knife that you were continuing to swing in his direction.”

Neighbours rushed to Mr Tomusiak’s aid while his wife returned in to the house, where she was arrested by police, who said she looked “dazed”.

Prosecuting, Jonathan Underhill said Tomusiak had “higher culpability” for the crime because she had “deliberately” armed herself with the knife.

“This was a fast-moving incident”, the barrister said. “This was the second knife obtained by the defendant. She went back in having broken the first and she chose the largest one.”

The former self-employed private hire driver said he had been forced to sell the car he had bought for his business after only four months of running the firm.

He said: “I could only use my left hand and only my middle fingers were mobile. I needed somebody to help me to have a shower or a bath.

“After the attack, I had nothing else to do but pay universal credit which could barely cover my living expenses. Because of Marcelina’s ‘prank’ my family standards have dropped significantly.”

Marcelina had told probation services, after she was convicted, that she had experienced a difficult relationship with her husband and that they were going to get divorced.

Rupert Hallowes, defending Marcelina, said the defendant had been willing to admit the lesser charge of section 20 wounding, without intent, but she had been forced to undergo a trial on a charge of section 18 wounding, with intent, of which she was ultimately acquitted.

Marcelina had then been forced to wait until this January for a new trial after her first trial was aborted due to the lockdown in March last year.

Mr Hallowes told the court: “She achieves no credit for a guilty plea. It was offered whether or not the crown might take a plea to section 20. It was declined again at Salisbury back in January and it was explained the crown would nevertheless have insisted on a trial come what may.”

Marcelina, of Selby Walk, Basingstoke, was convicted of one count of section 20 wounding following a trial at Winchester Crown Court, where she appeared to be sentenced today (Friday, February 26).

Judge Mousley said: “There are factors here of higher and lower culpability. It seems to me that I will be sentencing on the basis that the knife was not originally intended to be used upon her husband and that there was teasing or certainly behaviour that would have served to wind her up further.

“Whether it is right to call that provocation or a greater degree of provocation may be overstating it but the incident took place in those circumstances and so I would sentence on the basis that there was a lack of premeditation.”

Judge Mousley said the injuries to Mr Tomusiak’s hand, which required surgery, was the most serious and that he could not suspend the sentence of imprisonment which he intended to pass.

The judge sentenced Marcelina to two years in prison, reduced because of the four months she had spent in custody on remand and the 318 days she had spent on a qualifying curfew.