Veyella Peters has been ordered to pay $9,000 in compensation after being convicted of attacking a retired teacher with a meat cleaver while he slept in his home.

The court found that Peters, in her early thirties, carried out the late-night assault on the man, who is in his sixties, leaving him with serious wounds to his neck and face.

Evidence showed the two had been in a relationship and living together, but tensions rose after the man asked her to move out following his new job. She refused to leave.

The judge accepted the man’s account that he was asleep when Peters attacked him, inflicting deep cuts that medical evidence showed required significant force.

The court also heard she prevented him from seeking immediate help and falsely claimed she was calling emergency services.

Peters claimed she acted in self-defence and accused the man of past misconduct, but the judge rejected her account, ruling the attack was deliberate.