A woman from Tenby who hit her husband on the head with a machete-like weapon has been convicted of trying to murder him.

Shafia Sofan, aged 50, shook her head as a translator explained the unanimous verdict to her on Wednesday.

The judge, Mr Justice Treacy, said the court had to consider mental health issues and he was due to sentence Sofan yesterday (Thursday) after hearing evidence from a psychiatrist.

Sofan had admitted twice hitting her husband Mohammed Abdul Sofan on his head with a botie, a 25-inch long hooked blade used by the Pakistani community to cut up vegetables and meat.

She entered a plea of guilty to wounding, but denied attempting to murder him.

A jury at Swansea crown court heard how she attacked without cause or warning as Mr. Sofan watched tv and ate a slice of bread and butter and sipped a cup of tea she had just served him.

She sat with him for a few seconds and, without saying a single word, walked into the kitchen, returned with the botie and hit him over the head from behind.

Despite bleeding profusely, he managed to get her out of their home in The Maudlins, Tenby. But while he was on the telephone to an emergency services operator he saw her trying to get back inside by chopping down the back door with a hand axe.

Huw Rees, prosecuting, told Swansea crown court the attack came without any warning and had not followed a row of any kind.

Mr. Sofan, a waiter, told the court that during the attack she had told him she was going to kill him.

During cross examination by his wife's barrister, James Jenkins, he agreed that shortly before the attack, on March 11 this year, he had spent three months without his wife in Bangladesh, where he had contracted to marry another woman.

But, he added, no marriage had actually taken place.

After the verdict, Mr. Justice Treacy said Sofan had already been examined by two psychiatrists and he had read their reports.

Yesterday he was due to take live evidence from one of them before deciding on the sentence. The outcome may be a hospital order under the Mental Health Act.

"There is a background of mental illness in this case and I have to give careful consideration to it," he added.

After her arrest, Sofan refused to answer questions, but told police in a prepared statement that she remembered picking up the botie, but not attacking her husband.

The couple had been married for 32 years and had five children.