A tenant stabbed his landlord in the neck with a large pair of scissors after a row about an electricity meter, a court heard.
The victim suffered potentially life-threatening injuries and still speaks in a harsh tone making it difficult for people to understand him.
At Grimsby Crown Court, Viorel Ion, 53, formerly of Gilliatt Street, Scunthorpe, admitted wounding his landlord with intent with scissors on the afternoon of April 6. He also admitted having a bladed article in public, namely the scissors.
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Prosecuting, Nick Peacock, showed CCTV of the violent confrontation between Ion and the landlord.
“There was no bad blood between them initially until they fell out over the innocuous reason of electricity supply,” said Mr Peacock.
The landlord asked to check the electricity meter. But the tenant refused and became angry claiming the landlord had entered his flat and would steal belongings. This was refuted by the landlord and a confrontation erupted outside in the street.
Mr Peacock said the defendant shouted at the landlord: “I could kill you. Prison is like a holiday to me.”
The landlord returned from an errand and found his tenant outside the door of his business. He had been drinking in the street and demanded £200 from the landlord for a new mobile phone.
The landlord noticed he had a large pair of scissors in his hand and he was using them to make a stabbing gesture. The landlord tried to walk away, but Ion stood behind him, as a staff member tried unsuccessfully to persuade him to hand over the scissors. Instead, the prosecutor said, he returned the scissors to his back pocket.
Mr Peacock said the situation deteriorated and the landlord launched a blow to the defendant’s face. He retaliated, reaching into his pocket to draw out the scissors and stabbed the landlord in the neck. Mr Peacock said blood began spurting out of his neck and splattered the young son of a member of staff who witnessed the wounding.
She said in a statement read to the court: “Children should not have to see such horrible things happen.”
At Scunthorpe accident and emergency ward, he was treated for a two-centimetre wound to his jugular which came close to his carotid artery. The prosecutor said the surgeon reported it was lucky the wound had not penetrated further as it was “potentially life-threatening”. The victim was transferred to Hull Royal Infirmary. He said luckily a fistula had formed, which is a channel leading between two cavities.
The surgeon’s report said the patient’s prognosis is good. But the victim told how he has a large scar which he has to cover up because of how it looks. When he talks at length it is painful and the tone of his voice is now harsh sounding and people find it difficult to understand him.
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“This change in my voice will be forever,” he said. Ion voluntarily attended Scunthorpe police station, where he was initially arrested for attempted murder. The charge was later changed to wounding with intent.
Judge Richard Woolfall said: “This was a particularly life-threatening injury. But for the fact a fistula developed, this could have been fatal. The fistula probably saved his life.”
For Ion, Craig Lowe said the complainant had driven himself to the hospital for treatment. He said his client had been subjected to a powerful blow to the face at the start of the violence.
He added the court could not be sure it was a life-threatening injury. The judge jailed Ion for five years and four months for the wounding offence and 16 months for possession of a bladed article in public. Both sentences will run concurrently.
Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe
