A ‘socially isolated’ man stabbed another young man twice during an incident in the street outside a Coventry convenience store – after he alleged his victim had abused him.
Shibari Reid (21) of Copperfield Road, Stoke, Coventry, was jailed for six years and 11 months after pleading guilty at Warwick Crown Court to wounding with intent.
Prosecutor Graeme Simpson said that on July 6, for no apparent reason, Reid approached two young men near a convenience store in Harnall Lane East, Coventry.
A CCTV camera from the store showed Reid, holding a combat knife down by his side, advancing on one of the young men who backed away from him along the pavement.
He then went between two parked cars into the road, but Reid lunged at him with the knife, stabbing at him twice before walking away.
The victim was taken to hospital where he needed stitches in wounds to his left forearm and hand.
When Reid, who Mr Simpson said was clearly ‘intoxicated or under the influence of drugs,’ was arrested nearby he admitted having the knife, which he said he had been using at home and still had it on him when he went out.
He claimed the young man and a friend had been abusive towards him, so he had produced the knife, but denied stabbing anyone with it.
Then when the CCTV recording was played to him, Reid, who had no previous convictions, claimed he ‘was not really trying to stab him.’
Derek Johashen, defending, said the incident ‘does not last very long at all,’ and it was not a sustained attack.
He said Reid had come to this country when he was 19 and, with only one much older cousin in the UK, with whom he was staying, had become very isolated.
He had never been in trouble before, and since being remanded in custody he has been described as ‘a super-enhanced prisoner,’ added Mr Johashen.
Jailing Reid, Judge Peter Cooke told him: “You have been described as socially isolated, but that is no excuse for whatever you thought you were doing when you approached and intimidated those two lads.
“I have no idea what on earth led you to behave in that fashion. Your use of a knife, and a particularly unpleasant one, is a higher culpability factor.
“This was outside a busy convenience store during the day, and you had a knife in your hand about to stab this terrified young man.
“Intoxication is no excuse. He was terrified. You had that knife down by your leg as you went towards him and he backed away.
“But as Section 18 (wounding with intent) cases go, the injuries were relatively minor, and he has made a full recovery, it seems.”
