Published date: 07 July 2016 |
Published by: Staff reporterRead more articles by Staff reporterEmail reporter
A MAN has been jailed for five years today (Thursday) after a court heard how, when drunk, he beat another man with a child’s scooter before thrusting a knife at his face and neck.
Mold Crown Court heard it was fortunate that the injuries were not more serious.
Judge Geraint Walters, sitting at Cardiff Crown Court, sentenced the case via a live television link, and told defendant Lance Thomas: “Let’s face it, you could have killed him.”
Prosecuting barrister Kate Meredith-Jones told how Thomas, 21, had been out drinking with his friend Chad Clemson, 24, in the Rhuddlan area.
They returned to the defendant’s home in Mwrog Street, Ruthin, in the early hours of April 30, but there was an argument between the two men because Mr Clemson wanted to go out drinking again.
There was some goading that the defendant could not hold his drink and at one stage it was alleged that Mr Clemson gave the defendant’s partner, Natalie Judge, a hug as she lay in bed.
Thomas jumped out of bed swinging punches, there was a fight and they grappled with each other and rolled on the floor.
They went downstairs where the violence continued and it was alleged that Thomas picked up a child’s scooter, swung it, and hit him to the head and body some seven times.
But he then took a knife from a block in the kitchen and was seen to thrust it four times towards his head, neck and back.
He was left on the floor covered in blood.
The defendant called a taxi and he, his partner and two children travelled to Prestatyn, but the defendant told the driver what he had done and a police car was flagged down.
Mr Clemson was taken to Glan Clwyd Hospital at Bodelwyddan with wounds to the head, neck and arms and multiple bruising to the face, neck and back. Thomas was on licence at the time and had been recalled, Miss Meredith-Jones explained.
Judge Walters said that Thomas, now of Edgbaston Road in Rhyl, was “just shy” of receiving a sentence under the dangerousness provisions.
“If you keep on committing offences of violence you are going to get there pretty soon,” he warned.
That night there had been some goading that he could not hold his drink and when the complainant was said to have given the defendant’s partner a hug while she lay in bed, that angered him even more.
The altercation continued downstairs where it was suggested he struck him with a child’s scooter.
But matters escalated when he quite purposefully took a knife and thrust it a number of times towards the face and neck area of the complainant.
“You caused him several wounds. Those who take knives into their possession during an altercation and then proceed to use them, particularly when they target the neck and face, are committing very serious offences indeed,” the judge said.
Mercifully the injuries were not as bad as they could have been but the defendant had no control over that. He had admitted intending to badly injure him.
“It is pure good fortune that you failed to achieve what you set out to do,” he said. “Let’s face it, you could have killed him.”
He took into account his guilty plea, he had personality issues, had a drink problem, and the judge said that he accepted that there had been “a degree of provocation” – which prompted an angry response from a man in the public gallery.
The judge said that Thomas would have received seven and a half years but for his guilty plea.
Defending barrister Simon Killeen, defending, said that there were aggravating features to the case and the defendant knew he had to receive a significant prison sentence.
But he had pleaded guilty at an early stage, he suffered from attention deficit hyper activity disorder for which he continued to be medicated, he was still a young man,
and the court could not ignore an element or provocation, said Mr Killeen.
Thomas pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause GBH at an earlier hearing.
Mold Crown Court heard it was fortunate that the injuries were not more serious.
Judge Geraint Walters, sitting at Cardiff Crown Court, sentenced the case via a live television link, and told defendant Lance Thomas: “Let’s face it, you could have killed him.”
Prosecuting barrister Kate Meredith-Jones told how Thomas, 21, had been out drinking with his friend Chad Clemson, 24, in the Rhuddlan area.
They returned to the defendant’s home in Mwrog Street, Ruthin, in the early hours of April 30, but there was an argument between the two men because Mr Clemson wanted to go out drinking again.
There was some goading that the defendant could not hold his drink and at one stage it was alleged that Mr Clemson gave the defendant’s partner, Natalie Judge, a hug as she lay in bed.
Thomas jumped out of bed swinging punches, there was a fight and they grappled with each other and rolled on the floor.
They went downstairs where the violence continued and it was alleged that Thomas picked up a child’s scooter, swung it, and hit him to the head and body some seven times.
But he then took a knife from a block in the kitchen and was seen to thrust it four times towards his head, neck and back.
He was left on the floor covered in blood.
The defendant called a taxi and he, his partner and two children travelled to Prestatyn, but the defendant told the driver what he had done and a police car was flagged down.
Mr Clemson was taken to Glan Clwyd Hospital at Bodelwyddan with wounds to the head, neck and arms and multiple bruising to the face, neck and back. Thomas was on licence at the time and had been recalled, Miss Meredith-Jones explained.
Judge Walters said that Thomas, now of Edgbaston Road in Rhyl, was “just shy” of receiving a sentence under the dangerousness provisions.
“If you keep on committing offences of violence you are going to get there pretty soon,” he warned.
That night there had been some goading that he could not hold his drink and when the complainant was said to have given the defendant’s partner a hug while she lay in bed, that angered him even more.
The altercation continued downstairs where it was suggested he struck him with a child’s scooter.
But matters escalated when he quite purposefully took a knife and thrust it a number of times towards the face and neck area of the complainant.
“You caused him several wounds. Those who take knives into their possession during an altercation and then proceed to use them, particularly when they target the neck and face, are committing very serious offences indeed,” the judge said.
Mercifully the injuries were not as bad as they could have been but the defendant had no control over that. He had admitted intending to badly injure him.
“It is pure good fortune that you failed to achieve what you set out to do,” he said. “Let’s face it, you could have killed him.”
He took into account his guilty plea, he had personality issues, had a drink problem, and the judge said that he accepted that there had been “a degree of provocation” – which prompted an angry response from a man in the public gallery.
The judge said that Thomas would have received seven and a half years but for his guilty plea.
Defending barrister Simon Killeen, defending, said that there were aggravating features to the case and the defendant knew he had to receive a significant prison sentence.
But he had pleaded guilty at an early stage, he suffered from attention deficit hyper activity disorder for which he continued to be medicated, he was still a young man,
and the court could not ignore an element or provocation, said Mr Killeen.
Thomas pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause GBH at an earlier hearing.
No comments:
Post a Comment