A York teenager who stabbed a boy near Rowntree Park, leaving the victim needing emergency surgery for a punctured lung, has been locked up for 18 months.
The 16-year-old, who can’t be named for legal reasons, thrust the seven-inch blade into the victim’s chest, missing his heart “by a few inches”, York Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Rachael Landin said the teenage victim had been out drinking alcohol with friends in York in the hours leading up to the knife attack on 12 November last year.
He ended up on his own walking towards Millennium Bridge near Rowntree Park. There, he saw the defendant threatening two other boys with a knife in an argument “over a girl”.
Standing between the knife-wielding teenager and the two boys, he said “If you’re going to stab somebody, stab me.”
When the 16-year-old pointed the knife at him, he tried to grab his hand. “But the defendant raised his hand and stabbed him just below the left armpit,” said Mrs Landin.
Flashback to November 2022
“The victim felt he was losing his breath and was bleeding.”
The defendant ran off across the bridge as the victim, who suffered a punctured lung, was helped by his friends.
Police, road ambulances and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance were called to the scene at about 7pm.
The stab victim was taken to Leeds General Infirmary. He underwent emergency surgery but had since made a full recovery.
Lucky he wasn’t killed
The teen defendant was later arrested and told officers that he and the victim had fallen out but initially denied stabbing him.
He was charged with wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and carrying a blade. He ultimately admitted the offences and appeared for sentence today after being remanded in custody.
His solicitor advocate Graham Parkin said the defendant had never been in trouble before despite a torrid early childhood.
He said the young victim was “out and about within a week or so” of the attack.
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Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, told the defendant: “You have to understand… that carrying knives is so dangerous.
“You come from a nice family: they are decent folk and you are ordinarily a decent young man. You have been described in (pre-sentence) reports as always polite and a pleasant individual.”
The judge said the defendant had an “immaturity about you and this is how (the incident) ended up as it did: a silly young boy with a knife”.
He added: “Just thank your lucky stars nobody was killed because that would be, for you and the victim, a tragedy.
“This was a silly schoolboy squabble when a knife came into play. You have utter remorse and sadness at what you have done because of the trouble you have brought yourself and your family.”
The youth was given an 18-month detention-and-training order.
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