Rapper Foxy Brown has successfully avoided another stint in prison - after pleading guilty to attacking a woman with her Blackberry cell phone.

The star - real name Inga Marchand - was jailed in September last year for violating her probation stemming from a 2006 assault conviction for assaulting two manicurists in 2004. Marchand was sentenced to three years probation as a result.

Marchand was accused of bruising the eye and causing damage to the teeth of her Brooklyn, New York neighbour Arlene Raymond when she attacked her with her mobile communication device last July.

Brown was subsequently charged with felony assault, menacing, harassment and criminal possession of a weapon when she turned herself into police. She was released on bail and pleaded not guilty to the counts in October.

But she changed her plea to guilty during a court appearance on Thursday - and by doing so, the rapper avoided the case going to trial, which could have seen her put behind bars for a maximum of seven years.

In a hand-written note, Marchand says, "I apologize for the incident that occurred on July 31, 2007, in that I attempted to scare Arlene Raymond and place her in harm's way."