A MAN stabbed his 72-year-old sister in the neck and threatened to “slit her throat” after arguing over a new washing machine he had just plumbed in, a court heard.

Robert Patient, 60, lost his temper with Valerie Maguire at her home in Central Avenue, Southend, on June 30, moments after coming home from the pub.

Basildon Crown Court heard Patient fitted the machine in the afternoon but left the packaging out on the sofa when he went to play pool, returning at about 7pm.

When he got back to his sister’s house, where he was staying, he launched into a rant, telling his older sibling she was “talking down to him”.

Mrs Maguire gave a harrowing account of the attack via videolink from Southend Crown Court.

She said: “When he first walked in he seemed to be alright, but that didn’t last long.

“He started talking about the washing machine, saying it was smaller than the last one. I said I didn’t really take a lot of notice about whether it was smaller.

“He started to lose it a bit. He kept repeating himself and went on about the fact he had fitted it for free.

“He seemed to think I wasn’t talking to him properly and he was getting more and more annoyed.

“I was speaking normally, I thought.”

Mrs Maguire said Patient was drunk and on a scale of one to ten, he was an eight.

She added: “He kept going on about the washing machine. He was really angry and said: ‘I might as well go and dismantle it.’

“That’s what I thought he was doing when he went to the kitchen. However, he came back with a knife.

“I believe it was in his right hand, it was a paring knife with a long thin blade. I just said to him don’t be so stupid. Then all of a sudden he had stabbed me with it.”

The court then heard Patient stabbed her with such force the blade broke off from the handle and ended up on the floor.

Mrs Maguire said initially she felt like she had been punched just below her left ear and did not feel any pain, but then noticed blood pouring out of the 2cm wound.

She told the court before and during the attack Patient subjected her to a barrage of vile verbal abuse and threatened to “slit my throat”.

After the initial attack, Patient went back into the kitchen, returning with a breadknife.

Mrs Maguire said: “He went straight to the kitchen and got another knife so I’m frightened and I’m kicking him away, I’m screaming.

“I can’t get up quickly so I had to sit there. He kept launching himself at me and I was kicking him away and screaming. He was shouting at me all the time.”

Despite being covered in blood, Mrs Maguire was treated at Southend Hospital with steri-strips and did not need stitches.

Patient admits causing grievous bodily harm but denies intent.

The trial continues.