The victim of the July 15 incident outside the East Albury IGA had to move her head back to avoid getting hit as her window was smashed.

Nerissa Brand, 38, didn't know the woman but approached her car and yelled "what are you looking at?"

"Do you want to get chopped up?" she yelled at the victim while holding two 30-centimetre long hatchets.

Police told Albury Local Court the victim had been in the driver's seat of her Suzuki hatchback near the supermarket car park.

"The accused has swung one of the hatchets at the half-opened driver's window causing it to smash, and has swung the hatchet in the direction of the victim's face," officers said.

Brand continued to yell at the woman, asking if she wanted to be chopped up.

Brand smashed the hatchet into the car as the victim drove off.

Police were called but the 38-year-old travelled to a home on Alexander Street and screamed at a woman inside while multiple children were present.

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She left but returned with the hatchets, which she banged together while shouting words in her Aboriginal language.

Brand was arrested at her East Albury home a short time later and the weapons were seized from her couch.

She was charged with multiple offences, including intimidation and damaging property.

The court heard she had grown up in disadvantaged conditions in the Pilbara and that alcohol was a significant factor in the offending.

Brand has spent about six weeks undergoing rehabilitation since the incident.

Her lawyer argued the jail threshold hadn't been crossed due to her treatment, which had been similar to time in custody, and her early guilty plea.

Magistrate Sally McLaughlin agreed prison wasn't required.

"I commend you for the steps you have taken in terms of rehabilitation," she said.

She imposed a 12-month corrections order and ordered Brand pay $1865 for the car damage.

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