A Chinese woman who slashed a fellow student’s face with a Stanley knife following a row over the cleaning at their shared home in Coventry has escaped being jailed.
Congshan Xu had denied wounding her victim with intent to cause serious injury, but pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to a less serious offence of malicious wounding.
Xu (29) now of Lower Ford Street, Coventry, was sentenced to 18 months in prison suspended for two years, and was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work.
Prosecutor Trevor Meegan said: “This defendant and the victim Yi Ming Liu both lived together in a student house in Glover Street in Coventry, along with the defendant’s boyfriend and another lady.
“Miss Liu had moved in in October 2017, and relationships between her and her fellow housemates were initially good, but deteriorated over the issue of cleaning.”
A rota was drawn up, and a chat group was started on the Chinese equivalent of WhatsApp – but on January 11 this year a row erupted during the afternoon over the chat group.
“The defendant’s boyfriend knocked on Miss Liu’s door holding a black-handled kitchen knife, and a mobile phone in the other hand, saying he was on a video call with the defendant, and that the defendant ‘wants me to fight your face.’”
Miss Liu quickly shut her door, and that incident ended.
But when she returned to her room later that day, after going out to get some food, there was another knock on the door.
“This time it was the defendant asking her whether she believed she was going to be killed.
“The defendant was holding the same knife, and she grabbed Miss Liu’s hair and pushed her over, and they both fell onto the bed and started fighting.”
During the fight, Miss Liu accepted she had tried to bite Xu, and was herself bitten to her finger, hand and arm.
They separated, and Xu then told her boyfriend what had happened, and he came back into the fray, wanting to fight Miss Liu, but thankfully their landlady was there and kept them apart.
“But the defendant then took the opportunity to hit her to the body two or three times, and she then picked up a Stanley knife and put it to Miss Liu’s face, causing a cut which bled.”
As their landlady offered to take Miss Liu, who also had other facial scratch marks and bite marks, to hospital, Xu urged: “Don’t let her go to hospital, let her die here.”
At the hospital the wound to Miss Liu’s face was cleaned and glued, and she describes herself as ‘heartbroken,’ having been told she will be left with a scar on her face, added Mr Meegan.
Philip Vollans, defending, said Xu is in her final year at Coventry University, and has been told she will be allowed to complete the final three months if she retains her liberty – but will not be allowed to return if she is jailed.
He said Xu took English classes in China, but also worked to help her parents pay off their mortgage.
Mr Vollans said that as well as studying here, Xu also works in a Chinese restaurant, and sends money to her parents, who are coming up to retirement age and who both have health problems.
“There is no state-funded health system in China, so their health will suffer as a direct consequence of this case if she loses her liberty,” he added.
Sentencing Xu, Judge Sally Hancox told her: “You used a Stanley knife, attacking the face of one of your housemates over an issue as trivial as whether your shared house was being kept in good order or not.
“Your behaviour towards her was that of an animal. It was without provocation, and the fight you and Miss Liu engaged in seems to me to have always placed Miss Liu at a disadvantage – and you brought a knife to that fight.
“Your attitude, your words, and your physical assault of Miss Liu would undoubtedly have left her utterly terrified for her safety, if not, at the height of your assault, her very life.
“But I accept everything that has been said on your behalf, and what I have read about you. You are clearly ashamed of your actions.”
