A Llanelli man has been jailed for nine years and four months for stabbing a man to death following an argument over an alleged drug debt.
At Swansea Crown Court on Monday, Wesley Jones , 30, of Y Bythyn, Llanelli, admitted the manslaughter of 22-year-old Simon Lee Bell at the home of Bell’s sister Stacey in Dillwyn Street, Llanelli, on the evening of November 6 last year.
Jones stabbed him twice with a two inch long lock-knife, the first injury being a superficial shoulder wound but the second, a wound to the chest, severing an artery in Mr Bell’s heart.
He was pronounced dead hours later in Swansea’s Morriston Hospital after emergency surgery failed to save him.
'Heated argument'
Jim Davis, prosecuting, said Stacey had organised a “fireworks and hot dogs” party at her home and both her brother, who lived in Llwynhendy, Llanelli , and Jones, who Stacey had been in an “on off relationship” with for seven years, attended.
The prosecutor said Jones and Simon Lee Bell took heroin in a shed at the house and later the pair became involved in a heated argument over a drug debt Mr Bell claimed Jones owed him.
Mr Davis said: “Stacey paid her brother £50 out of her own money to settle the argument but the defendant was not happy and telephoned his father for a loan so he could pay her back.”
The court heard Mr Bell left at this point but Stacey said she and Jones continued “screaming and shouting” at each other which led to Mr Bell forcing his way back into the house.
Mr Davis said Stacey Bell said: “He’s kicked my front door in and he’s like come running into the living room.”
The two men swapped punches before Jones used the lock-knife then left the scene in his father’s van, throwing the knife out of the window onto a grass bank.
Mr Davis said outside her house, Stacey Bell “was hysterical and calling for help”, a scene witnessed by drinkers at the Duke of Wellington pub nearby.
Admitted manslaughter
A passer by took her phone off her and summoned help from the emergency services but by the time paramedics arrived Mr Bell was said to be unresponsive.
After being arrested Jones initially tried to say it was Stacey who had stabbed Mr Bell but he later admitted manslaughter, accepting he was the one who used the knife on Stacey’s brother.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Bell’s devastated mother Gillian Davies said: “He was taken from me at such a very young age. I’m at a loss for words to say how I feel.
“I’ve been upset to the point there are no more tears left to cry.
“I’ve had to move out of my house of 10 years because the memory of the happy years spent there with Simon are too difficult for me to bear.”
Mr Bell’s father Neil Bell added: “It feels like part of me has died to be honest. Some days I don’t know whether I’m coming or going.”
'Deeply regret your actions'
Sentencing Jones, Mr Justice David Holgate said: “For some time after the offence you did not show any remorse at all for the killing and its consequences.
“It is said now that you accept full responsibility for your behaviour and deeply regret your actions and the terrible suffering you have caused.
“This was a serious incident, the punching was started by Simon but there are the following aggravating circumstances.
“You were under the influence of heroin, there was no evidence that Simon threatened you with any weapon or gave you any cause to think he had or might use a weapon.
“The use of the knife was wholly unjustified and unlawful.”
see-http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/man-stabbed-death-following-argument-11238676
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