A man has been sentenced to 12 years in jail after stabbing his victim in a “random and motiveless” attack.
Gwilym Edwards, 25, who has a history of violent offending and carrying weapons was told by Judge Neil Bidder QC that years of abusing drink and drugs had made him psychotic.
“There could have been a murder charge. It could have been anybody” he said.
Edwards of Coronation Buildings, Cwmfelinfach, Caerphilly pleaded guilty to wounding victim Neil McVey with intent and admitted knife possession and later assaulting his own aunt by pushing her over on the night of the attack.
Mr McVey had to have one of his kidneys surgically removed as a result of Edwards plunging a large kitchen knife into his side and was in intensive care for six days.
Prosecutor James Wilson told Cardiff Crown Court : “The kidney was removed during an hour-long operation and without it he would not have survived.”
'Angry and aggressive'
The attack took place in the Bargoed area of the county on August 2, 2014.
Witnesses saw Edwards drinking from a bottle and described him as “angry and aggressive” and saying he had been to his doctor that day but had been told there was nothing wrong and had been “chucked out of the surgery”.
He was heard making threats to another man before, “without warning”, punching Mr McVey to his head and kicking him with “full force” after he fell.
Edwards chased after the first man, slashing with the knife which he had taken from the waistband of his trousers then returned to Mr McVey.
“He walked up behind him and stabbed the knife down. The blade was seen to go into his body,” Mr Wilson said.
“He was heard to say ‘I’ll ----ing kill you’ and seen to stab in a downwards motion.”
'Blanked out'
Paramedics found a single stab wound to Mr McVey’s abdomen.
Edwards, the father of a five-year-old son, later told police: “I don’t really know what happened. I blanked out and by the time I came round he had been stabbed.”
His barrister, Kevin Seal, said he wanted to apologise to Mr McVey, who “wasn’t targeted in any way”.
“This was completely random,” he added.
Meanwhile James Wilson told the court that Heather Jones “by chance” was on her way to the shops when her nephew, the defendant, saw her.
“He went up and pushed her in the chest with both hands, telling her ‘you are all scum’
“She fell and he ran off.”
'Capable of serious harm'
Mr Seal said Edwards had suffered violence as a child and had gone on to abuse ecstasy, amphetamine, cannabis and alcohol - actions which had led to psychosis and a “gradual deterioration of his mental health”.
When he was jailed for assault early last year, he was put on anti-psychotic medication and was “stable” on release.
But he stopped taking his tablets and returned to illegal drugs and drink.
Judge Bidder told Edwards: “You were drunk and in an aggressive mood and after threatening one man carried out a motiveless attack, stabbing Mr McVey in the back and causing a potentially fatal injury.
“He suffered nightmares and now feels weak. It has had a significant effect on his life.
“You have a bad record for violence, your long history of substance abuse is probably behind the psychotic symptoms you suffer, when intoxicated you are capable of causing serious harm and you present a risk to the public.”
Edwards was told he will serve at least two thirds of the eight-year custodial part of his sentence before he can even be considered for parole.
When he is let out, his licence period will continue until 2027.
“Your total sentence is therefore one of 12 years,” the judge said.
see-http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/man-jailed-after-random-stabbing-10785661
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