A woman slashed another woman's face in a dispute that a judge described as "three young ladies tangled in a weave of hearts" with each other.

Supreme Court heard yesterday how Januari Gibbons, Shuntae Todd and Maia Francis used to be friends – with the first two meeting through the Bermuda women's cricket team.

According to Crown counsel Robert Welling, Ms Todd later became "closer friends" with Ms Francis. Gibbons and Ms Todd then fell out and stopped speaking to each other.

Gibbons, he claimed, was hurt by rumours about a "triangle" between the three of them. She reacted by going to Ms Francis' home and repeatedly slashing Ms Todd with a box cutter.

The wounds she inflicted left Ms Todd, 20, from Warwick, permanently scarred.

Gibbons, 30, from Orange Hole Road, St. David's, was jailed for two years for the attack that also saw her punch Ms Francis in the face.

Ms Todd described herself as "appalled" by the sentence as she left court, telling The Royal Gazette: "It should have been at least five years."

Both she and Gibbons' lawyer Elizabeth Christopher denied Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves' claim that the trio were involved in an affair of the heart. Ms Todd stressed after yesterday's hearing: "It's not a triangle. We were all friends."

Their comments were at odds with what Mr. Welling told the judge.

He detailed how, after Gibbons fell out with Ms Todd, she confronted her at Ms Francis' home on May 16 last year. According to the prosecutor, Gibbons told them: "Talk your s**t, say what you have to say now."

She continued to ramble aggressively despite their attempts to calm her.

Then she grabbed Ms Todd by her neck and threatened to kill her, before stabbing her in the face and neck with a two-inch box cutter.

According to Mr. Welling, the victim put her hand up to her neck in shock and asked if Gibbons had a knife. She replied: "Yes, I have had enough of you."

The victim suffered two stab wounds to her face and one to her neck. Gibbons also punched Ms Francis, leaving her with a bruised nose.

Gibbons, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty last month to wounding Ms Todd with intent and inflicting actual bodily harm upon Ms Francis.

Mr. Welling told the court: "The only known explanation is jealousy of Ms Todd and Ms Francis. She was hurt by rumours she'd heard about a triangle between the two complainants and herself."

Defence lawyer Elizabeth Christopher was reluctant to go into details in court, but said the Crown had got the motivation for the attack wrong.

"It's not my client's case that the purpose for going to the house was that she was hurt by rumours that she'd overheard about a triangle."

"That's not her purpose going to the house. She went to the house to respond to these calls she received from Ms Francis."

"I don't want the court to act under any misapprehension that this is the result of any love triangle or anything," she said.

The judge responded that he needed to know if this was "a crime of the heart — a crime of passion as the French like to say" in order to decide upon an appropriate sentence.

After further debate the judge finally concluded that Gibbons did not go to the house to hurt a rival, but instead to clear her name over rumours.

Ms Christopher also told him that the reason Gibbons had a boxcutter was because she was working as an apprentice groundsman at Riddell's Bay Golf and Country Club at the time.

Gibbons read a statement apologising to her victims and her family, breaking down in tears as she did so.

Mr. Justice Greaves sentenced her to two years for wounding Ms Todd with intent and six months to run concurrently for actual bodily harm to Ms Francis.

He threatened her with a further six months if she does not pay $10,330 to Ms Todd to cover medical expenses and damage suffered to her bike during the attack.

He observed: "Matters of the heart have befuddled mankind since the beginning of time."

"It is now accepted to a large degree by our modern society that it's no less or no greater whether it be between those of the same kind or those of different kinds. This is a sad case between three young ladies tangled in a weave of hearts and consequences of emotion.

"Whatever the results, it's well established and accepted that we, as members of modern society, must control our emotions as far as we can so to avoid the evil of violence and its consequences."

Leaving court, Ms Todd, who works for the Ministry of Youth and Sport, denied allegations that she started a love triangle rumour.

"The rumours were about me. It's very unlikely I'm going to start rumours about myself," she claimed. "I'm not involved (with Ms Todd). We met from cricket. I don't know how she's met Maia."

Ms Francis was not present, as she is away studying in the US.