A woman who was found guilty of contravening a domestic order put in place to keep her away from her former boyfriend and her son walked away from Magistrates' Court on Friday with an absolute discharge after it was revealed that she went to their home on instruction from her lawyer.

Magistrate Edward King told Kim Swan, 30, of Long Ridge Pass, Devonshire: "I find you guilty, but I shall not convict you."

Swan was accused of going to the home of Giovanni Burrows of Marle Lane, Warwick, and making threatening gestures to him on October 11. In retaliation, Mr.Burrows admitted in court that he threw a machete at the back of Swan's car.

Swan denied the charges and during the testimony, she told Mr. King that she did not go on the property. Instead, she said, she was in her mother's yard, which is adjacent to Mr. Burrows'.

"I only wanted to see my son, " she said.

In her testimony, Ms Swan admitted that she had not made plans to attain her son, but had in her possession a letter from her lawyer, Richard Horseman, which said she could go to the property to collect her five-year-old, but could not stay there for any length of time.

But Mr. King said that different measures should have been taken.

"An application should have been made to vary the order," Mr. King said. "She should not have been put into that position."

And Mr. King gave a stern warning to all parties involved.

"The parents and grandparents should resolve this amicably, especially since they are next door neighbours.

"The courts are not here to cause division between parent and child."

But, he said, both sides need to decide to put the past behind them.

"They've got to solve it," he said. "The child's interest in paramount."