A man who smashed his way into a house with a hatchet and threatened to cut a 64-year-old woman into pieces has been jailed for six months.
Robert Kinkead, 19, broke through the front door of the property in north Belfast earlier this year following a row about a family funeral.
Kinkead, of Mountcollyer Avenue in the city, admitted possessing an offensive weapon in public, criminal damage and threats to kill.
Belfast Magistrates' Court heard he arrived in an agitated state at the Seaview Close home of his mother's partner on August 5.
An argument over attending the funeral later that day led to him being put out of the property.
A Crown lawyer said Kinkead kicked at the front window, leaving muddy footprints, and screamed that he would be back.
Later that day he returned, carrying a hatchet and a knife.
As his mother and her partner hid at the back of the house, an older woman who was present told him they had left.
At that point Kinkead kicked and struck the front door with the hatchet up to 20 times, the court heard.
"The door smashed, the top of it separated, and he climbed through into the property," the prosecutor said.
"He confronted (the woman) in the hallway, shouting at her about standing on glass before saying he would cut her into pieces."
Police later arrested the defendant at his own address, seizing a backpack containing a quantity of suspected cannabis.
A hatchet with a broken head was also recovered during the searches.
Kinkead also pleaded guilty to possessing Class B drugs and assaulting two police officers during his detention.
Defence barrister Richard McConkey told the court his client had acted under the influence of drugs.
"Tragically, his cousin had just passed away very suddenly, and there was a fractious family issue about arrangements for the funeral," counsel said.
Sentencing him to a total of six months custody, Deputy District Judge Gerard Trainor described the weapon charge as particularly serious.
He also ordered: "There will be destruction of the hatchet."
