Post-traumatic stress disorder was why a Copper Ridge Place employee threatened to blow up a co-worker's home, territorial court was told Friday.

Annette Steele arrived home from work one day last March to hear threatening messages on her answering machine from her former friend, Jacqueline Talbot-Scott, court heard.

Steele was told if she wasn't careful, her house would be blown up, and that the next time Talbot-Scott saw her in the hallway at work, she would grab Steele by the throat, slam her against a wall and punch her.

'The nature of the threats and the language of the threats are very disturbing,' Judge Heino Lilles said.

Upon hearing these messages last March 15, Steele immediately called Whitehorse RCMP and had Talbot-Scott charged with two counts of uttering threats.

The threats did not come out of nowhere, though. Steele and Talbot-Scott had a longstanding dispute that required their employer, Copper Ridge Place, to make sure the two women were not scheduled to work together.

However, last March 15, the two women ran into each other in the parking lot, which prompted Talbot-Scott to call Steele.

Since the incident, Talbot-Scott no longer works at Copper Ridge Place because of a no-contact order with Steele.

Even so, prosecutor Mike Cozens noted that Steele is still afraid. She doesn't like to be alone and does not like going downtown because she may run into Talbot-Scott.

Steele is also considering leaving the jurisdiction as a result of her fear.

Defence lawyer Lynn MacDiarmid said she was not sure of the circumstances surrounding the Talbot-Scott-Steele dispute.

However, she said, the two women used to be good friends.

When that friendship collapsed, the rejection was hard for her client to accept, since Talbot-Scott suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder that resulted from being the victim of an abduction some years ago.

Lilles says because of the woman's horrible background, it's not surprising she would eventually find herself before the court.

'As a victim herself, she victimized another person,' said Lilles, causing Talbot-Scott to start crying.

The 50-year-old woman says she does not remember making the threatening phone calls as she had taken a combination of alcohol and prescription drugs at the time.

The consequences for making the threats have been catastrophic to Talbot-Scott, said MacDiarmid.

'She lost her employment, a job she had for a number of years,' said MacDiarmid. 'She enjoyed her career and was devastated to lose that career.'

'I've been almost nine months feeling very depressed and mentally distraught,' Talbot-Scott told the court.

It has only been recently that she has been able to come out in public with her head up high, Talbot-Scott said.

'I am very damaged by my own guilt,' she said. 'I am very ashamed of of what I did.'

Talbot-Scott has began a new career as a pipefitter and hopes to start an apprenticeship program this summer.

Lilles said the woman seemed to be at a turning point in her life.

'The court should encourage her in the direction that she is going,' said Lilles, who suspended sentencing of Talbot-Scott.

Instead, he ordered her into a 15-month probationary period where for the first three months she must abide by a 9 p.m.-to-7 a.m. curfew

Talbot-Scott must also abstain absolutely from alcohol and undergo alcohol abuse and psychological counselling.