Swansea Crown Court, where Sutherland was sentenced.
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A SWANSEA Valley man has been jailed for eight and a half years for violent crimes, including stabbing his girlfriend three times with a screwdriver.
In two separate acts of violence, one year apart, Caelan Francesco Levi Sutherland, used a Phillips screwdriver to inflict wounds on his girlfriend that "could have been fatal", and kicked a neighbour in the face leaving him with fractured skull and bruising to the brain.
In relation to the attack on his girlfriend, Judge Christopher Vosper QC said: "It is good fortune only that she was not left dead or disabled".
Sutherland, aged 25, of Rowton Villas, Ynyscedwyn Road, Ystradgynlais, admitted a charge of wounding with intent against his girlfriend Lauren Castleton, and causing grievous bodily harm to his neighbour Paul Phillips.
When sentencing, the judge said he considered Sutherland to be a danger to the public and extended Sutherland's jail term to eight years and six months.
Swansea Crown Court heard that at the time of the attack on Miss Castleton, in December of last year, the couple had been out for the evening before returning home at around 10pm. She had gone to bed while the defendant stayed up with friends.
The court was told that Sutherland had decided to take skunk cannabis and cocaine, behaviour Miss Castleton disapproved of.
Hearing bangs from downstairs, she came down to check on her partner numerous times, firstly to find him holding a knife paranoid that somebody was in the house, and later after calling his mother Christine Sutherland round to help, they found him with two screwdrivers.
Prosecuting, Robin Rouch said: "He was poking the walls saying there was someone in them."
As the morning arrived, the court heard, Sutherland made his way into the bedroom where his girlfriend was sleeping and stabbed her three times with a Phillips screwdriver, once in the neck and twice in the back, before the defendant's mum was able to stop him.
The judge said: "The strike to the neck had been very close to the carotid artery and the jugular vein, one of the stabs to the back had punctured the lung, either that blow or another to the back also damaged one of the lower vertebrae."
This attack occurred while Sutherland was on bail from an attack on Mr Phillips, in Pontardawe, in December 2014.
In relation to that incident, Sutherland called upon his neighbour Mr Phillips, accusing the claimant of damaging his girlfriend's car, the court heard.
The prosecutor said that when Mr Phillips denied the damage and bent down to put his shoes on to usher Sutherland from the home, the defendant kicked him in the face.
"He fell backwards and struck the back of his head on the floor," said the prosecutor.
The court heard that scans of Mr Phillips's head found a fracture of the temple, bruising and swelling to the frontal lobe of the brain.
Mr Phillips is still affected by the injury - it has altered his personality, behaviour, and caused problems with his hearing and vision, the court heard.
Catherine Richards, for Sutherland, said her client showed "genuine remorse" in both cases.
"He knows it's very lucky it wasn't more serious," she said.
"He has to live with what he has done."
She told the court that Sutherland had been using skunk cannabis for a long time, which the judge said may have contributed to the psychosis Sutherland was experiencing when he stabbed Miss Castleton.
In relation to his drug use, the barrister said: "He has the support of a family who do not in any way condone his behaviour."
She said her client was committed to abstaining from the use of illegal drugs.
Sentencing Sutherland to a total of eight years and six months for the offences, the judge said: "You do pose a substantial risk of serious harm to members of the public."
Read more: http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Man-stabbed-girlfriend-screwdriver-times-jailed/story-28969670-detail/story.html#ixzz43f01lLVL
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