A student who stabbed her mother five times because she was 'possessed' by her grandmother has walked free from court.

Lorraine Mbulawa was convicted of unlawful wounding after stabbing her mother as she slept in Braunstone Firth, Leicester.

The 19-year-old was released when Mr Justice Keith accepted her arguments that her beliefs in witchcraft and evil led her to carry out the act.

Despite being stabbed five times, Mbulawa's mother, Sisbsisiwe, did not blame her for what she did because they both believe in the occult.

She said her daughter had appeared in a trance during the attack.

In delivering his sentence at Leeds Crown Court, the judge said: 'She believed spirits can enter the body and make you do things that otherwise you would not have done.

'Her beliefs could have made her think she was possessed by evil spirits at the time.'

The jury cleared the A-level student of attempted murder during a trial at Leicester Crown Court earlier this year but she was convicted of the lesser charge of unlawful wounding.

Justice Keith added: 'In convicting Lorraine of unlawful wounding the jury must be treated as having rejected her claim of being in a dissociative state.

'The jury treated Lorraine as if she knew what she was doing at the time of the attack.'

Before stabbing her sleeping mother once in the face and four times in the arm, Mbulawa put on dark clothes, gloves and a self-fashioned balaclava.

Mr Justice Keith allowed Lorraine Mbulawa to walk free from court

She woke up during the attack thinking it was a burglar and wrestled the knife from her.

Mbulawa, originally from Zimbabwe, claimed to have been acting on the orders of her dead paternal grandmother.

After her arrest she told police that she had planned to kill herself after killing her mother. Her father died several years ago in their home country.

When she took to the stand to talk about the events of May 13, 2009, Mbulawa said: 'I had a dream that seemed a bit real. It was my grandma and dad's youngest sister, Charlotte. Like they were right at the foot of my bed.

'My grandmother said my mother was responsible for the death of my father and I had to do the honourable thing to my father by killing my mother.'

During the two-week trial, Mrs Mbulawa, 43, gave evidence that she believed her daughter's actions were committed during a trance of some kind.

She said she believed in witchcraft and evil spirits and said her Christian daughter did not seem her real self during the incident.

Prosecutor James House said: 'Her mother has expressed a belief in the power of spirits common in the culture of Zimbabwe.

'Had it happened there, her daughter would have been treated by a medicine man and would have been exorcised.'

Psychiatrists said that Mbulawa was of sound mind and she was handed a 12-month custodial sentence suspended for 18 months along with 120 hours' community service.

She must also attend supervision sessions that will help her understand her beliefs so she could fight any urges that tell her to commit any crimes in the future.

Justice Keith added: 'I believe she's a young woman with much going for her. She struck me as being unusually confident and assured, also not unintelligent with a degree of charm and poise.

'She is someone who is capable of possibly paving a good life for themselves.

'Lorraine believes she was doing what the spirits told her to do which reduced her culpability significantly.'

Mrs Mbulawa said she believed her daughter's actions were carried out while she was in a trance and her Christian daughter did not seem her real self.

When she was released from the dock, Mbulawa's family hugged each other. She was told she would be able to move home with her mother after living apart and having supervised visits for two years.

By Daily Mail