Thug jailed for stabbing

Oct 7 2010 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

A THUG has been jailed for stabbing a man in the chest after he mistakenly believed the man had punched his elderly mother.

Paul McCarthy plunged a blade into the chest of the man after a neighbour dispute got out of hand.

Livingston Sheriff Court heard that at around 10.45pm on July 30 this year some people were drinking in a house in Marina Road, Boghall.

A girl had fallen and needed help and as a result several people came out of the house and were making a lot of noise.

“When the witnesses approached the junction at the end of the road the accused came out his home and began shouting at them, saying they had to keep the noise down. The accused’s mother was also present,” depute fiscal Julia McLaren told Livingston Sheriff Court.

“The group returned home and on entering his home address a witness was asked by his brother why he was back.

“He explained about the accused and as a result of this the brother left his home address and made his way down to the accused’s mother’s home, along with a female witness.

“He confronted the accused about the earlier altercation with his brother and the accused’s mother instructed her son to go into the house, which he did.

“At this point the female punched the accused’s mother on the face and pushed her to the ground.

“The accused came out the house holding a knife in his hand. The accused approached the complainer, grabbed him and struck him with the knife on the chest.

“The accused then ran off from the locus. After the accused ran away the complainer noticed blood on his chest.

“At this point he realised he had been stabbed.”

The victim was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for treatment. He suffered a 2cm stab wound to the left side of his chest and had reduced air flow.

“It had the potential to be more serious, with life-threatening consequences,” Ms McLaren said.

Last week McCarthy, who was described as a prisoner of Saughton Prison, pled guilty to assault to the endangerment of the victim’s life.

His solicitor, Ian Bryce, told the court that his client realised a custodial sentence was inevitable.

“At the beginning of this incident we would have more sympathy with Mr McCarthy as he was at home with his three-year-old child and mother.

“Alcohol had been taken by the complainer’s brother and Mr McCarthy had gone outside and said ‘can you keep the noise down I have a three-year-old inside,’ which was a reasonable request.

“The complainer’s brother then left and the incident was over.

“However, in time-honoured fashion someone else has got involved to sort it out.

“The complainer took the decision to leave the house and made his way to Mr McCarthy’s house.

“Why the female witness got involved is not known but I have to think alcohol was involved.”

Mr Bryce said Mr McCarthy’s mother was in bad health and was extremely frail.

“When the complainer arrived, Mrs McCarthy told her son to go back into the house and he did exactly that. At that stage the female who was with the complainer has taken it upon herself to punch Mrs McCarthy.

“So we have a frail and disabled person who was knocked to the ground by this woman.

“Mr McCarthy has come out the house and was erroneously advised that the person who had punched his mother was the complainer.

“Unfortunately he then made a serious error on his part. The reason he came out was he heard that his mother had been punched to the ground.

“He picked up a knife and came out and on being told it was the complainer that did it he stabbed him once.

“It was not a frenzied attack in retaliation. It was as measured as it could have been in the circumstances.

“The circumstances are quite unusual and there was an extreme provocation prior to him acting in the stated way.

“He regrets what happened and he regrets that he placed himself in a situation where he is in the dock.

“He is thankful that the consequences were not more serious for the complainer.”

Jailing him for 28 months, Sheriff Martin Edington said he had reduced his sentence due to the provocation he had faced.

Sheriff Edington added: “You used this knife to the endangerment of the complainer’s life.

“You have breached probation and bail orders in the past.

“There is no alternative but to deprive you of your liberty.”