The incident happened at Morriston Hospital
A HEROIN addict trying to inject himself in the toilets in Morriston Hospital stabbed a security guard with a syringe and said he hoped he caught Hepatitis and HIV, a court has heard.
Joseph Peter Thomas had been rushed to the hospital in May last year after being taken unwell.
But Swansea Crown Court heard that while in the A&E department he locked himself in a toilet cubicle to inject heroin. When a security guard became concerned about him and tried to get into the cubicle, Thomas "lunged" at him and stabbed him in the hand with a syringe.
Dean Pulling, prosecuting, said the guard managed to disarm Thomas and take him to the ground before radioing for back-up.
Police were called, and Thomas was arrested.
The court heard Thomas told officers he had Hepatitis C, and he hoped the man he stabbed "has a really nasty infection from it and his liver fails".
Thomas refused treatment at hospital and refused to take blood tests, adding that he hoped the security guard contracted HIV.
When he continued to be "uncooperative" with doctors he was removed from hospital and taken to Swansea Central police station.
The court heard part of a spoon was found on top of the toilet roll dispenser in the cubicle Thomas had been in
Thomas, aged 28, of Lion Street, Brynmelyn, had previously pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and to possessing heroin when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
Mr Pulling read extracts of an impact statement from Thomas's victim in which he said the incident had left him "worried sick" about having contracted a potentially fatal disease from a known drug addict, adding that he had suffered "in a way I have never suffered before".
The court heard Thomas refused to have blood tests but that in 2013 he had tested negative for Hepatitis B and C, and HIV.
Thomas has previous convictions for 17 offences including for drugs matters, burglary, possession of an offensive weapon, battery against a shopkeeper, and inflicting grievous bodily harm when he slashed and stabbed his victim with a bladed item.
Judge Geraint Walters told Thomas his actions had had a "huge psychological impact" on his victim, a man who had simply been doing his job.
The judge said it was a sign of how bad things could get at Morriston Hospital A&E that doctors who were there to help people needed security guards.
The judge told Thomas that unless he tackled his heroin addiction he would spend most of his life in prison, adding that his life would likely be a short one as "heroin kills".
Thomas was sentenced 16 months in prison suspended for two years, and made the subject of a community order with rehabilitation and drug requirements.
Read more at http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/heroin-addict-stabbed-hospital-security-guard-with-syringe-and-said-he-hoped-he-got-hiv/story-30127035-detail/story.html#jpHte79o1GKZxf3v.99
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