Former US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords stood in federal court on Thursday to face her would-be assassin.

On January 8 2011, Jared Loughner, 24, a college dropout with a history of psychiatric disorders, opened fire near a supermarket in Arizona.

Six people were killed during the shooting, including a nine-year-old girl, and 13 others were wounded. The former congresswoman , who is Jewish, was left partially blind, with a paralysed right arm and brain injury.

But yesterday, Ms Giffords faced her assailant for the last time, when he received seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years in prison

According to his friends, Mr Loughner had often expressed a view that women should not hold positions of power and said that Ms Giffords was a “fake”.