A drunk woman so intoxicated she could not remember stabbing a teenager in the back with kitchen scissors claimed she acted in self-defence.

Abbie Lucas told police that on the day she attacked the young man she had downed several bottles of wine in what had been a "three to four-day bender".

Her victim, who was 19 at the time, had only known Lucas for a few weeks and was staying at her flat in temporary housing accommodation in Whitstable.

He later described their relationship to police as "friends with benefits", Canterbury Crown Court heard.

But it was as he bent down to retrieve his belongings following a row in which Lucas had scratched his neck with her acrylic nails that he was then stabbed by the 30-year-old.

He had to be airlifted to hospital in London and needed five stitches to a 6cm wound described as a "stab hole".

Lucas was found by police hiding under a staircase in the property's basement.

As well as having glazed eyes, incoherent speech and smelling of alcohol, there was blood on her face.

The bloody scissors were discovered the following day in a bush outside.

When interviewed, Lucas said she did not remember attacking the teenager, had "blacked out" from her heavy drinking, and "did not want to remember".

She admitted she could be "a nightmare" but said if she had stabbed him, it would have been in self-defence.

However, at her trial in September, prosecutor Tom Worden told jurors there was "no justification" for the injury caused to the teenager.

"This was an unprovoked attack, stabbing someone in the back," he said.

"Even if she were acting in self-defence, there can be no justification for stabbing [the victim] in the back causing him such a significant wound, and the force she used went well beyond anything that might be considered reasonable in the circumstances of this case."

The court heard the victim, now 20, was assaulted by Lucas on August 22 last year. That morning, they had been to Herne Bay and Margate before returning to the West Cliff flat.

Friends of his also lived in the same building and he told the court he was cooking food when Lucas became "loud and abusive" in the communal hallway.

He described her as being "very drunk", and said although he had not been drinking he had smoked "a joint or two" during the day.

Giving evidence, he said she was "screaming and shouting" and, when he went to investigate, he was "grabbed up the neck badly" by her.

His hair was also being pulled, he added, and so he lashed out once with his hand in self-defence. He described the force used as "just enough to get her off me".

However, when he went back into her flat a few seconds later to collect his clothing he was stabbed, the court heard.

"I had all my stuff in Abbie's room still. So I went in there. She was just standing there with a pair of scissors in her hand," he explained.

"They weren't just any belongings. There were expensive items in there. I couldn't just leave it.

"I walked in there, got all of my stuff and, because I had three pairs of trainers, on the way out I dropped a shoe. As I lunged down to get it, that's when she put the scissors in my back.

It was just all a blur from there. I went all light-headed. It was horrible...

"I didn't know - I thought I had been punched - until I went into the other room. I genuinely thought I had been punched. It was not even that hard, that's what's crazy. I just walked off with my belongings and carried on."

He said it was at that point that one of his friends started screaming that he had been stabbed, the court heard.

"It was just all a blur from there. I went all light-headed. It was horrible," he added.

Paramedics and police arrived and the teenager was taken to King's College Hospital in London.

Asked about the moment he had seen Lucas with the scissors, he said: "She was just standing there with them held down by her side.

"She had the handle in her hand and the blade pointing down."

He also told the court that after he had been stabbed and he went into his friend's flat, Lucas was banging on the door saying "You're f***ed".

It was while he was being interviewed by police at hospital that the victim described himself and Lucas as "friends with benefits".

He told the jury he could not recall what he said and that his statements were "jumbled" as he was "high as a kite" from pain relief.

But he admitted under cross-examination by Lucas's barrister Andrew Horsell that he and Lucas had been intimate and he had been sleeping in her bed.

He also accepted punching Lucas after she had scratched him and that there was blood on her face.

But he maintained he had acted in self-defence and Lucas did not have to "fight him off", as suggested by Mr Horsell.

He also disputed the assertion she had been screaming at him to leave his flat when he went to collect his belongings, that he was angry and Lucas had then stabbed him in self-defence in a second altercation.

"Disagree," the victim told the lawyer. "How can you stab someone in the back in self-defence?"

He admitted however that he had made a withdrawal statement in which he told police: "I just want to leave the past in the past".

Lucas, now of Clifton Place, Margate, denied wounding with intent as well as the alternative, less serious offence of unlawful wounding.

I blacked out, this is awful. I really don't know what happened, I don't know why it happened...

When interviewed by police following her arrest, she cried: "I love that boy. I don't know what the f*** happened and I wish I did.

"I just wish it never happened. The worst thing is I don't remember it. That's what's so frustrating."

However, she did recall her face being left bruised and swollen, claiming she had been pulled to the floor and had her face "grabbed" twice.

Describing their relationship as being friends but "not together", Lucas added: "We do like each other and we have never had a row.

"I know I can be a nightmare but not like that. I don't know if it's because he hit me and I blacked out. I don't know if I reacted because he hit me. I just don't know.

"If I was to do anything like that it would be self-defence, 100%. I would never go out of my way to do that."

Lucas also claimed to have hidden in the basement for her own safety.

"I blacked out, this is awful. I really don't know what happened, I don't know why it happened. Stabbing someone is not reasonable to do with anyone under any circumstances," she added.

The jury cleared Lucas of wounding her victim with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm but found her guilty of wounding.

She returned to court for sentencing on Friday and was jailed for one year.